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Centennial    Anniversa^^-t 


TOWN    OF    COHASSET, 


May    7,    1870. 


ORATION    BY     Hon.  THOMAS     RUSSELL. 


SPEECHES     BY     GOV.    CLAFLIN,     HIRAM     REVELS, 

LORING    LOTHROP,    SOLOMON    LINCOLN, 

GEORGE   B.   LORING,   AND   OTHERS. 


Boston: 

WRIGHT  &   POTTER,  PRINTERS,   79  MILK  STREET. 

1870. 


Centennial    A 


ENTENNIAL     rLNNIVERSARY 


OF   THE 


TOWN    OF    COHASSET 


May   7,    1870. 


ORATION    BY    Hon.  THOMAS    RUSSELL. 


SPEECHES    BY     GOV.    CLAFLIN,     HIRAM    REVELS, 

LORING    LOTHROP,    SOLOMON    LINCOLN, 

GEORGE  B.  LORING,  AND  OTHERS. 


Boston; 

WRIGHT  &  POTTER,  PRINTERS,  79  MILK  STREET. 

1870. 


COMMITTEE  OF  ARRANGEMENTS. 


J.  Q.  A.  LOTIIROP. 
MAKTIN  LIXCOLN. 
LOUIS  N.  LINCOLN. 
A.  H.  TOWER,  Jb. 
ADNA  BATES. 
LORING  BATES. 
LEVI  N.  BATES. 


SOLOMON  J.  BEAL. 
ZENAS  D.  LINCOLN. 
AARON  PRATT. 
ZACCHEUS  RICH. 
EDWARD  E.  TOWER. 
TH03IAS  M.  SanTH. 
J.  P.  T.  PERCIVAL. 


CHARLES  A.  COUSENS. 


CENTENNIAL     CELEBRATION. 


The  One  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Organization  of 
the  Town  of  Cohasset  took  place,  in  accordance  with  pre- 
vious announcement,  on  Saturday,  May  7.  The  weather 
was  not  what  we  call  pleasant,  although  no  rain  fell  until 
after  four  o'clock,  P.  M. 

The  dwellings  generally  were  liberally  and  tastefully 
decorated.  The  occasion  was  one  of  more  than  ordinary 
interest  to  Cohasset  people.  The  residents  of  the  neighbor- 
ing towns  also  participated  in  this  enthusiasm  to  some 
extent, — as  did  many  others  who  dweU  in  more  remote 
localities. 

The  programme  of  the  day  commenced  with  the  ringing 
of  bells,  and  the  firing  of  cannon  at  sunrise  ;  and  this  was 
continued  at  noon  and  sunset. 

At  seven  o'clock  a  concert  was  given  on  the  Common  by 
the  Atlantic  Musical  Association. 

The  Governor  and  other  State  officials  and  distinguished 
guests  arrived  in  an  extra  train  at  ten  o'clock.  A  procession 
was  then  formed,  as  follows  : — 


4  Town  of  Coliasset, 

ORDER    OF    PROCESSION. 

Aid,  Chief  Marshal,  Aid, 

L.  P.  Cusliing.  William  B.  Johnson.  J.  M.  Pieper. 

Atlantic  Musical  Association. 

Military  escort,  consisting  of   a  company  of   returned  veterans   in 
uniform,  under  the  command  of  Capt.  John  W.  Tower. 

President  of  the  Day,  Governor  and  Staff,  Orator,  and  other  invited 
guests  in  carriages. 

Carriage,  with  the  following  ladies :  Lydia  Bates,,  aged   90   years ; 

Hannah  Stoddard,  aged  89  years ;  Lucy  Nichols,  aged  85 

years ;  Lydia  Pratt,  aged  84  years. 

Selectmen  of  Hingham,  Scituate,  and  Cohasset,  in  carriage. 

Committee  of  Arrangements  in  carriage. 

Citizens  and  others  on  foot. 

Children  of  the  Public  Schools,  consisting  of  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  in  number,  with  small  flags  and  bouquets. 

Private  carriages. 

The  two  field-pieces  which  were  used  in  firing  the  salutes 
upon  the  Common,  and  the  gunners,  joined  in  the  line. 
One  of  the  three  large  carriages  was  also  filled  with  young 
Misses,  each  bearing  a  small  flag,  representing  the  States  of 
the  Union. 

On  each  side  of  the  barouche  containing  Governors  Claf- 
LiN,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Stearns,  of  New  Hampshire, 
Judge  Russell,  the  Orator  of  the  day,  and  J.  Q.  A.  Loth- 
ROP,  Esq.,  the  President  of  the  day,  were  the  following 
Assistant-Marshals : — 

On  the  left,  On  the  right, 

A.  H.  Tower,  Jr.,  Col.  Hawkes  Fearing, 

Frederick  Nickerson,  Capt.  John  Stephenson, 

M.  B.  Stetson,  Henry  Stephenson, 

N.  H.  WaiTen,  George  Lincoln, 

Of  Cohasset.  Of  Hingham. 


Centennial  Anniversary.  5 

Assistant-Marshal  J.  L.  Battles  was  detailed  for  services 
at  the  church. 

Among  the  novelties  in  the  procession  was  a  boat  on 
wheels,  manned  by  sailor-dressed  boys,  called  the  "  Relief," 
and  a  wagon  containing  representative  women  of  the  past, 
wearing  immense  bonnets  and  calashes.  A  spinning-wheel 
was  kept  in  motion  in  this  wagon,  which  reminded  us  of  the 
days  when  our  grandmothers  spun  and  wove  their  own  cloth. 
A  piano  and  a  sewing  machine  were  also  exercised  to  repre- 
sent the  pursuits  of  the  present  day. 

A  lady  and  gentleman  riding  together  upon  the  back  of 
one  horse — representing  the  ancient  mode  of  riding  on  a 
pillion — was  another  noticeable  feature  in  the  column. 

The  procession  moved  through  South  Main  street  to  the 
bridge.  It  then  countermarched,  passing  through  Summer 
and  Elm  streets  to  North  Main  street.  Main  street,  and 
through  Winter  and  Green  streets,  to  the  old  meeting- 
house. 

Exercises  at  the  Church. 
The  procession  reached  the  church  shortly  after  twelve 
o'clock,  and  the  edifice  was  soon  filled  to  overflowing,  the 
galleries  being  occupied  almost  exclusively  Ijy  ladies.  The 
church  was  tastefully  decorated  for  the  occasion  with  flags 
'and  other  memorials  and  devices.  Over  the  clock,  in  the 
front  gallery,  were  the  original  and  present  names,  "  Cono- 
HASSETT  "  and  "  Cohasset."  On  each  side  of  the  pulpit  were 
floral  displays.  Flags  were  very  prettily  arranged  in  the 
centre  of  the  platform  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  and  also  around 
the  galleries.  On  this  platform  were  seated  William  B. 
Johnson,  Esq.,  Chief  Marshal,  J.  Q.  A.  Lothrop,  Esq.,  Rev. 


6  Toion  of  Cohasset. 

Messrs.  Osgood,  Fitts  and  Smith,  and  Hon.  Thomas  Russell, 
orator  of  the  day. 

The  exercises  opened  with  a  voluntary  on  the  organ, 
which  was  followed  by  an  anthem. 

The  Chief  Marshal  then  said : — 

Strangers  and  Fellow- Citizens^ — Permit  me  to  introduce 
to  you  our  President  of  the  Day,  Mr.  J.  Q.  A.  Lothrop. 

ADDKESS    OF   ]Sni.    LOTHROP. 

Mr.  Marshal, — I  will  not  say  that  this  is  an  unexpected 
honor,  for  such  is  not  the  fact ;  but  I  thank  you,  and  through 
you  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  for  the  honor  conferred 
upon  me  in  appointing  me  to  preside  over  the  dehberations  of 
the  day.  I  will  endeavor  faithfully  to  perform  the  duties.  One 
hundred  years  ago  to-day,  (Mr.  Lothrop  continued,  turning 
toward  the  audience,)  our  ancestors  assembled  in  this  church, 
under  an  act  of  incorporation,  to  elect  the  first  officers,  pass  the 
first  votes,  appropriate  money  to  pay  the  necessary  expenses, 
and  to  put  in  working  order  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  then 
new  town  of  Cohasset,  and  what  is  considered  as  a  singular  co- 
incidence, and  may  not  be  improper  for  me  to  mention,  is  that 
two  out  of  the  three  selectmen  then  elected  were  named  Lin- 
coln, and  that  two  of  the  present  selectmen  bear  the  same 
name,  descendants  and  good  representatives  of  the  fonner. 
The  first  were  noble  men  and  patriots,  good  specimens  of  the 
citizens  of  their  time ;  the  pi-esent  ones  we  beUeve  are  able 
■men,  and  caj^able  of  following  in  their  footsteps — one  of  them, 
the  elder,  having  held  all  the  oflices  in  the  gift  of  the  town,  and 
now  serving  for  the  twentieth  time  as  one  of  the  selectmen.  As 
the  time  approached  when  the  one  hundred  years  of  our  exist- 
ence as  a  town  would  expire,  it  seemed  fitting  to  the  citizens 
that  some  appropriate  notice  should  be  taken  of  the  same,  and 
accordingly  a  town  meeting  was  called  last  December,  a  Com- 
mittee of  Arrangements,  consisting  of  foiirteen,  chosen  to  take 
the  whole  matter  in  charge,  and  to  prepare  for  such  a  celebra- 
tion as  they  might  deem  necessary.    That  committee  met,  chose 


Centennial  Anniversary.  7 

its  officers,  appointed  sub-committees,  and,  having  held  numer- 
ous meetings,  engaged  an  orator,  appointed  a  chief  marshal,  and 
made  all  the  preparations  in  order  to  fitly  celebrate  this  day. 
And  they  believe  the  arrangements  have  been  so  far  perfected 
that  there  can  be  no  serious  obstacle  to  a  good  and  social  gath- 
ering. And  I,  for  and  in  behalf  of  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments, and  of  the  citizens  of  the  town,  extend  to  your  Excel- 
lency the  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  to  your  Excellency  the 
Governor  of  New  Hampshire,  to  the  orator,  to  all  Government 
and  State  officials,  strangers,  former  citizens,  and  descendants  of 
citizens  and  all  others  who  have  honored  us  with  theu*  presence, 
a  most  cordial  and  hearty  welcome.  It  gives  us  pleasure  to 
welcome  you  among  us.  We  are  happy  to  entertain  you.  We 
feel  that  you  may  have  made  some  sacrifices  to  come  here,  but 
the  joy  your  presence  gives  us  we  hope  will  in  j^art  repay  you 
for  your  trouble.  We  feel  honored  by  your  coming,  and  we 
hope  you  may  derive  some  benefit  from  your  visit.  This  is  an 
event  in  the  history  of  the  town  which  will  not  be  forgotten  by 
any  one  of  its  present  inhabitants,  and  I  have  no  doubt  it  will 
be  published  and  handed  down  and  mentioned  at  the  two  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  its  incorporation.  When  you  dej^art 
fi'om  us  at  the  close  of  this  celebration,  we  hope  you  will  leave 
with  the  impression  that  we  are  an  industrious,  happy,  law- 
abiding  and  order-loving  people,  fit  to  take  high  rank  with  the 
towns  of  the  good  old  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts.  (Ap- 
plause.) 


EEADIXG   OP   THE    SCRIPTUKES. 

Rev.  Calvin  R.  Fitts,  of  Cohasset,  read  selections  from 
the  Scriptures,  as  follows : — 

[Joshua,  iv  :  1-9 ;  10-24.] 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  all  the  people  were  clean  passed 
over  Jordan,  that  the  Lord  spake  xinto  Joshua,  saying. 

Take  you  twelve  men  out  of  the  people,  out  of  every  tribe  a 
man. 

And  command  ye  them,  saying.  Take  you  hence  out  of  the 
midst  of  Jordan,  out  of  the  place  where  the  priests'  feet  stood 


8  Town  of  CoTiasset. 

firm,  twelve  stones,  and  ye  shall  cany  them  over  with  you,  and 
leave  them  in  the  lodging  place,  where  ye  shall  lodge  this  night. 

Then  Joshua  called  the  twelve  men,  whom  he  had  prepared 
of  the  children  of  Israel,  out  of  every  tribe  a  man  : 

And  Joshua  said  unto  them,  Pass  over  before  the  ark  of  the 
Lord  your  God  into  the  midst  of  Jordan,  and  take  you  up  every 
man  of  you  a  stone  upon  his  shoulder,  according  unto  the  num- 
ber of  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel : 

That  this  may  be  a  sign  among  you,  that  when  your  children 
ask  their  fathers  in  time  to  come,  saying,  What  mean  ye  by 
these  stones  ? 

Then  ye  shall  answer  them.  That  the  waters  of  Jordan  were 
cut  off  before  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord ;  when  it 
passed  over  Jordan,  the  waters  of  Jordan  were  cut  off:  and 
these  stones  shall  be  for  a  memorial  unto  the  children  of  Israel 
forever. 

And  the  children  of  Israel  did  so  as  Joshua  commanded,  and 
took  up  twelve  stones  out  of  the  midst  of  Jordan,  as  the  Lord 
spake  unto  Joshua,  according  to  the  number  of  the  ti'ibes  of  the 
children  of  Israel,  and  carried  them  over  with  them  unto  the 
place  where  they  lodged,  and  laid  them  down  there. 

And  Joshua  set  up  twelve  stones  in  the  midst  of  Jordan,  in 
the  j)lace  where  the  feet  of  the  priests  which  bare  the  ark  of  the 
covenant  stood  :  and  they  are  there  unto  this  day. 

And  the  people  came  up  out  of  Jordan  on  the  tenth  day  of 
the  first  month,  and  encamped  in  Gilgal,  in  the  east  border  of 
Jericho. 

And  those  twelve  stones,  which  they  took  out  of  Jordan,  did 
Joshua  pitch  in  Gilgal. 

And  he  spake  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  saying.  When  your 
children  shall  ask  their  fathers  in  time  to  come,  saving.  What 
mean  these  stones  ? 

Then  ye  shall  let  your  children  know,  saying,  Israel  came 
over  this  Jordan  on  dry  land. 

For  the  Lord  your  God  di-ied  up  the  waters  of  Jordan  fi'om 
before  you,  iintil  ye  were  passed  over,  as  the  Lord  your  God  did 
to  the  Red  Sea,  which  he  dried  up  from  before  us,  until  we  were 
srone  over  : 


Centennial  Anniversary.  9 

That  all  the  people  of  the  earth  might  know  the  hand  of  the 
Lord,  that  it  is  mighty  :  that  ye  might  fear  the  Lord  your  God 
forever. 

[105th  Ps. :  1,  15.] 

Oh  give  thanks  unto  the  Lord ;  call  upon  his  name :  make 
known  his  deeds  among  the  people. 

Sing  unto  him,  sing  jDsalms  unto  him  :  talk  ye  of  all  his  won- 
drous works. 

Glory  ye  in  his  holy  name  :  let  the  heart  of  them  rejoice  that 
seek  the  Lord. 

Seek  the  Lord,  and  his  strength  :  seek  his  face  evermore. 

Remember  his  marvellous  works  that  he  hath  done  ;  his  won- 
ders, and  the  judgments  of  his  mouth ; 

O  ye  seed  of  Abraham  his  servant,  ye  children  of  Jacob  his 
chosen. 

He  is  the  Lord  our  God  :  his  judgments  are  in  all  the  earth. 

He  hath  remembered  his  covenant  forever,  the  word  which  he 
commanded  to  a  thousand  generations. 

Which  covenant  he  made  with  Abraham,  and  his  oath  unto 
Isaac  ; 

And  confinned  the  same  unto  Jacob  for  a  law,  and  to  Israel 
for  an  everlasting  covenant ; 

Saying,  Unto  thee  will  I  give  the  land  of  Canaan,  the  lot  of 
your  inheritance  : 

When  they  were  but  a  few  men  in  number ;  yea,  very  few, 
and  strangers  in  it. 

When  they  went  from  one  nation  to  another,  from  one  king- 
dom, to  another  j^eople ; 

He  sutFered  no  man  to  do  them  wrong :  yea,  he  rej^roved 
kings  for  their  sakes  ; 

Saying,  Touch  not  mine  anointed,  and  do  my  prophets  no 
harm. 

[135th  Ps.:  1-6;  19-21.] 

Praise  ye  the  Lord.  Praise  ye  the  name  of  the  Lord ;  ])raise 
him,  O  ye  servants  of  the  Lord. 

Ye  that  stand  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  in  the  courts  of  the 
house  of  our  God, 

Praise  tlie  Lord  ;  for  the  Lord  is  good     sing  praises  unto  his 
name  ;  for  it  is  pleasant. 
2 


10  Toion  of  Coliasset. 

For  the  Lord  hath  chosen  Jacob  unto  himself,  and  Israel  for 
his  i)eculiar  treasure. 

For  I  know  that  the  Lord  is  great,  and  that  our  Lord  is  above 
all  gods. 

Bless  the  Lord,  O  house  of  Israel :  bless  the  Lord,  O  house  of  ' 
Aaron : 

Bless  the  Lord,  O  house  of  Levi :  ye  that  fear  the  Lord,  bless 
the  Lord. 

Blessed  be  the  Lord  out  of  Zion,  which  dwelleth  at  Jerusalem. 
Praise  ye  the  Lord. 

PRATER   BY   REV.   JOSEPH   OSGOOD. 

Oh,  thou  infinite  and  eternal  God,  our  fathers'  God  and  our 
God,  we  would  ask  thy  blessing  upon  us  now.  We  have  as- 
sembled to  commemorate  the  inauguration  of  the  civil  organ- 
ization of  our  town,  and  we  would  ask  thy  blessing  on  these 
rejoicings ;  we  would  ask  thy  blessing  on  these  solemnities ; 
we  would  ask  thy  blessing  on  all  the  hallowed  memories  that 
rise  in  our  hearts  ;  and  we  would  ask  thy  blessing  on  all  those 
who  would  seek  to  give  exj^ression  to  our  thought,  our  feeling, 
our  gratitude,  this  day. 

We  thank  thee,  heavenly  Father,  for  the  organization  of  this 
town,  one  hundred  years  ago,  and  for  all  the  precious  privileges 
that  have  been  secured  by  that  organization,  and  for  the  civil 
order  and  harmony  that  have  resulted.  We  thank  Thee  for  the 
support  of  our  institutions  of  religion,  by  which  the  Christian 
faith  and  hope  and  love  of  the  people  have  been  cherished,  and 
in  which  they  have  found  expression.  We  thank  Thee  for  our 
institutions  of  learning,  in  which  the  young  have  been  educated 
in  heart  and  in  intellect,  and  have  been  fitted  to  become  useful 
citizens  and  members  of  the  community.  AVe  thank  Thee  for  all 
the  noble  sons  and  daughters  who  have  been  born  in  this  town, 
who  have  lived  and  labored  mthin  its  borders,  or  who  have  gone 
forth  to  discharge  the  various  ofiices  for  Avhich  they  were  fitted  in 
other  towns  and  other  lands.  We  thank  Thee  for  those  who  have 
gone  forth  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  thy  Son.  We 
thank  Thee  for  those  who  have  gone  forth  as  beloved  physicians, 
to  work  in  another  field  of  the  Master's  service.  We  thank 
Thee  for  those  who  have  gone  forth  as  leaders  in  commerce,  who 


Centennial  Anniversary.  11 

have  done  business  on  the  great  waters,  and  have  helped  to 
caiTy  the  blessings  of  commercial  intercourse  and  modern  civi- 
lization round  the  world.  We  thank  Thee  for  all  who  have 
labored  with  their  hands  or  with  their  hearts,  for  all  who  have 
shown  their  faithfulness  to  Thee  and  to  duty,  in  whatever  posi- 
tion thou  hast  placed  them,  whether  engaged  in  cultivating  the 
soil,  in  ploughing  the  deep,  in  mechanical  occupations,  or  in 
trade  and  commerce.  And  we  would  thank  thee,  heavenly 
Father,  for  the  order  and  harmony  that  have  characterized  the 
proceedings  of  this  town.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  warm  hearts 
of  the  inhabitants,  who  have  been  ready  to  rescue  and  to  re- 
ceive to  their  homes  the  shipwrecked  mariners  who  have  been 
cast  on  our  shores.  We  thank  Thee  for  those  who  went  forth 
in  the  early  wars  to  defend  the  rights  of  their  country  and 
to  redeem  the  land  from  oppression  ;  and  we  thank  Thee  for 
those  who,  in  the  later  struggles  of  our  common  country,  have 
shown  their  patriotism,  their  self-sacrifice,  their  willingness  to 
do  service,  and  to  shed  their  blood  in  defence  of  their  common 
country.  And  especially  at  this  time  would  we  remember 
those  who  have  borne  arms  in  the  late  war,  and  who  are  here 
with  us.  We  would  remember  those  who  are  absent  from  us, 
and  especially  him  who  was  a  noble  leader  of  our  forces  in  our 
great  struggle,  and  who  received  a  severe  wound  in  our  cause. 
And  we  would  remember  those  brave  young  men  whose  forms 
repose  in  distant  parts  of  our  country,  or  which  were  brought 
to  their  home  for  burial,  who  have  died  so  nobly  in  defence  of 
all  that  was  most  precious  to  us. 

And  while  we  thank  Thee  for  all  these  blessings,  while  we  thank 
thee  for  our  sons  and  our  daughters,  while  we  thank  Thee  for  all 
the  prosperity  with  which  thou  hast  favored  us,  we  would  sup- 
plicate a  continuance  of  thy  favors,  and  pray  Thee  to  enable  us, 
in  the  future,  to  be  more  true,  more  devoted,  more  faithful,  more 
loyal,  more  patriotic,  than  in  the  past.  And  while  we  supplicate 
thy  blessing  upon  us  as  a  town,  we  would  remember  the  mother 
town,  our  ancient  neighbor,  to  whom  we  bear  the  relation  of 
daughter,  thanking  Thee  for  the  pleasant  relations  that  have 
subsisted  between  the  daughter  and  the  mother,  and  praying 
Thee  to  bless  that  ancient  mother  more  and  more.  And  we 
would  remember  the  other  contiguous  towns,  which  have  shared 


12  Toiun  of  Cohasset. 

in  all  our  interests,  in  oiir  prosperity  and  in  our  adversity,  pray- 
ing Thee  to  shower  down  thy  rich  blessings  upon  them. 

We  would,  Almighty  God,  remember  our  ancient  Common- 
wealth, of  which  this  town  has  alw^ays  been  a  loyal  member, 
beseeching  Thee  to  bless  her ;  give  to  her  increased  prosperity, 
and  grant  that  all  the  institutions  that  ennoble  and  bless  our 
State  may  flourish  more  and  more  from  year  to  year. 

We  would  commend  to  Thee  the  chief  magistrate  of  our  Com- 
monwealth, the  lieutenant-governor,  the  members  of  the  coun- 
cil, and  all  who  are  associated  with  them  in  civil  authority, 
praying  Thee  to  send  down  thy  blessings  upon  them.  May  they 
feel  the  greatness  of  the  trust  committed  to  them ;  may  they 
feel  that  "  righteousness  alone  exalteth  a  nation,"  and  that  as 
they  promote  the  righteousness,  honor  and  dignity  of  the  State, 
they  make  this  ancient  Commonwealth  more  and  more  glorious. 

Almighty  God,  we  commend  to  Thee  our  common  country.  . 
We  thank  Thee  that  thou  hast  delivered  our  country  from  all  its 
perils ;  that  thou  hast  subdued  its  enemies ;  that  thou  hast  over- 
thrown those  evil  institutions  that  were  a  curse  to  it,  and  that, 
while  we  commenced  our  life  as  a  town  subject  to  a  foreign 
nation,  we  are  now  permitted  to  rejoice  in  belonging  to  a 
country  where  freedom  universally  prevails,  and  all  distinc- 
tions of  class  and  of  color  have  ceased. 

We  thank  Thee  that  we  have  been  enabled  to  welcome  to  our 
shores  strangers  from  over  the  deep,  and  those  who  have  come 
to  us  from  the  islands  of  the  sea ; — to  welcome  them  to  our  ci\\\ 
privileges,  to  welcome  them  to  oxw  schools,  to  welcome  them  to 
all  the  rights  and  opportunities  which  we  ourselves  enjoy. 

And  now,  heavenly  Father,  again  we  supplicate  thy  blessing 
upon  us,  praying  thee  that  as  this  day  ends  the  first  century  of 
our  existence  as  a  town,  crowned  with  so  many  rich  blessings, 
and  leaving  us  surrounded  with  so  many  tokens  of  thy  love  and 
proAidential  care,  it  may  be  the  beginning  of  a  new  century  of 
increased  nobleness,  prosperity,  glory  and  harmony,  of  higher 
culture,  and  of  a  more  Christian  and  elevated  civilization. 

Wilt  thou  send  down  thy  blessing,  heavenly  Father,  upon 
him  who  is  to  speak  to  us  at  this  time.  Send  down  thy  blessing 
upon  all  the  oflicers  engaged  in  the  exercises  of  this  day.  Send 
do^^^l  thy  blessing  upon  those  who  have  sung  to  thy  praise. 


Centennial  Anniversary.  13 

And  unto  Thee,  in  the  name  and  as  the  disciples  of  Jesus 
Christ,  we  would  ascribe  the  kingdom,  the  power,  and  the  glory- 
forever.     Amen. 


Then  followed  a  song  by  the  choir. 

The  President.  Ladies  and  Gentlemen, — I  have  the 
honor  and  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  the  Hon.  Thomas 
Russell,  of  Boston,  the  orator  of  the  day. 

Mr.  President, — It  is  a  natural  and  praiseworthy  feeling  that 
leads  the  good  men  and  women  of  New  England  to  celebrate 
the  day  that  marks  the  birth  of  each  town;  to  repeat  the 
names  of  their  fathers,  and  to  trace  the  steps  by  which  each 
little  independent  community  has  risen  from  the  poverty  and 
weakness  of  former  times  to  the  wealth,  prosperity  and  comfort 
of  the  present.  The  town  government  is  the  foundation  of  the 
State ;  attendance  on  town  meeting  and  performance  of  town 
duties  are  precious  training  to  the  people  ;  and  the  New  Eng- 
land youth,  who  has  wandered  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  in  search 
of  fame  or  fortune,  looks  forward  to  the  day  when  he  shall  cast 
anchor  near  the  old  homestead,  and  hopes  that,  at  last,  his  dust 
shall  mingle  with  the  dust  of  his  kindred. 

One  hundred  years  ago  your  fathers  met  within  these  walls 
to  receive  the  charter,  and  to  organize  the  town  of  Cohasset. 
The  careful  antiquarian  may  remind  me  that  the  word  "  dis- 
trict," instead  of  "  town,"  was  used  in  the  act  of  tlie  General 
Court,  for  the  reason  that  Cohasset  was  still  joined  with  Hing- 
ham  in  the  choice  of  representative.  But  in  performing  muni- 
cipal duties  and  in  bearing  municipal  burdens,  in  the  care  of 
roads,  of  the  poor  and  of  schools,  in  sharing  the  counsels  of  the 
State,  and  in  upholding  the  arm  of  the  nation,  Cohasset  has 
always  shown  herself  to  be  every  inch  a  town.  And  if  any 
lingering  doubts  remain  in  your  minds  as  to  the  style  of  your 
loved  municipality,  you  will  be  ghid  to  know,  that  in  1 786  it 
was  enacted,  that  all  disti-icts  incorporated  before  1777  sliould 
be,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  towns. 

The  history  of  the  founders  of  Cohasset  begins  long  l)efore 
this  date.     For  they  were  also  among  the  founders  of  Hingham. 


14  Toion  of  Cohasset. 

On  September  18,  (O.  S.)  1635,  Peter  Hobart  and  twenty-nine 
others  drew  lots  for  homesteads,  and  thus  organized  that  settle- 
ment, which  had  been  begun  two  years  before  by  a  few  of  Mr, 
Hobart's  townsmen  from  England.  These  earliest  settlers  bore 
the  names  of  Hobart,  Jacobs,  Smith  and  Gushing.  Peter  Ho- 
bart came,  with  his  friends,  from  Hingham,  in  Norfolk  County, 
and,  like  many  of  the  early  settlers,  they  gave  to  the  new  town 
the  name  of  their  old  home.  In  his  diary  we  read  this  record  : 
"  1635,  June  8. — I,  with  my  wife  &  4  children  came  safely  to 
New  England  June  ye  8,  1635,  forever  prazed  be  the  God  of 
Heaven,  my  God  &  King."  Mr.  Hobart  was  a  man  of  learn- 
ing, of  ability  and  of  zeal — a  good  specimen  of  the  strong  men, 
who,  in  poverty  and  in  danger,  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
American  Empire. 

In  the  early  annals  of  your  parent  town  we  find  much  to  re- 
mind us  of  their  hardships.  We  read  of  bounties  given  for 
wolf  scalps ;  of  the  meeting-house  surrounded  by  palisades  as  a 
protection  against  sudden  attack ;  of  John  Jacob  slain  by  In- 
dians in  his  wheat-field,  in  April,  1676 ;  of  five  dwelling-houses 
burned  during  King  Philip's  war.  Such  was  the  welcome  of 
your  fathers  to  these  shores.  Such  were  the  perils  which  they 
gladly  bore  for  their  faith. 

The  horrors  of  Iving  Philip's  war  have  often  been  sketched. 
The  flames  that  were  kindled  at  Swanzey  and  Dartmouth  rolled 
all  over  the  land  ;  the  best  blood  of  the  youth  was  poured  out 
in  the  meadows  of  Deerfield  ;  by  Turner's  Falls ;  in  the  swamps 
of  Rhode  Island.  No  town,  no  home,  no  man,  was  safe.  Won- 
derful was  the  devotion  that,  unaided  and  alone,  endured  the 
fearful  conflict. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  sacrifices  of  our  ancestors,  we  read 
that  the  public  debt  of  the  neighboring  colony  of  Plymouth 
far  exceeded  the  whole  amount  of  personal  property  in  that 
colony.  Well  may  the  historian  feel  pride  in  recording  the  fact 
that  this  debt  was  paid,  principal  and  interest, — paid  just  as  it 
had  been  agreed  to  be  paid.  Our  fathers  never  dreamed  of  re- 
pudiation. And  this  contract-keeping  people  found  favor  with 
a  covenant-keeping  God. 

This  flourishing  town  was  greatly  disturbed  by  the  question 
of  militia  elections,  and  by  a  quan-el  about  the  location  of  the 


Centennial  Anniversary.  15 

second  meeting-house.  This  quan-el  I  pass  by  as  more  interesting 
to  the  people  of  that  day  than  to  this  generation.  What  inter- 
ests us  most  is,  that  the  meeting-house  was  finally  biiilt  in  1681, 
and  that  it  now  stands, — the  oldest  church  edifice  in  the  United 
States,  containing  beams  which  were  in  the  first  meeting-house, — 
fragrant  with  old  memories.  We  love  to  believe  that  some  of 
the  earliest  comers  to  Massachusetts  Bay  have  worshipped  in 
this  venerable  structure,  and  to  know  that  the  first-born  of  the 
Pilgrims  may  have  sat  within  its  walls.  Such  thoughts  bring 
us  into  the  more  immediate  presence  of  our  fathers.  Well  for 
us  if  we  could  act  as  jn  that  j^resence  and  be  animated  by  their 
spirit. 

The  militia  excitement  of  1644  and  '45  fills  a  large  space  in 
the  annals  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  for  seven  years  disturbed 
the  peace  of  Hingham.  The  origin  of  this  trouble  was  the  elec- 
tion of  militia  captain,  and  the  question  involved  was  the  right 
of  the  people  to  choose  for  themselves,  without  the  control  of 
the  magistrates.  Mr.  Hobart's  course  was  objected  to  by  Dep- 
uty-Governor Winthrop  as  tending  to  "  mere  democracy."  He 
and  his  associates  were  fined  for  their  turbulent  opposition  to 
the  court.  These  fines  were  resisted ;  and  for  this  resistance 
Mr.  Hobart  was  once  more  dealt  with  by  the  court.  And  when, 
at  a  great  wedding  of  a  Hingham  man,  Mr.  Hobart  was  invited 
to  preach  in  Boston,  he  was  forbidden  by  the  magistrate,  be- 
cause, among  other  reasons,  "  he  was  a  bold  man,  and  would 
speak  his  mind."  The  people  stood  by  their  pastor,  paid  his 
fines  and  held  him  always  in  higher  esteem. 

It  is  an  honorable  record  for  his  many  descendants  to  read  of 
their  ancestor,  that,  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  ago,  his 
views  tended  to  pure  democracy,  and  that,  being  a  bold  man,  he 
would  speak  his  mind.  Such  assertions  of  equal  rights  as  he 
made  helped  to  forward  the  day  when  a  brave  son  of  Hingham 
should  receive  the  sword  of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown,  and  to 
that  greater  day,  when  another  man,  of  Hingham  descent,  pro- 
claimed that  slavery  in  America  was  forever  at  an  end. 

We  lose  our  patience  as  wo  read  the  story  of  this  contest. 
Wc  smile  at  the  superstitious  bigotry  of  Winthrop,  wlio  finds 
a  Providential  interposition,  when  some  Hingham  men  made 
light  of  the  colony's  fast,  and  attempting  to  take  a  raft  to  Bos- 


16  Town  of  Cohasset. 

ton,  were  delayed  a  month  by  bad  weather.  But  while  we  crit- 
icize and  smile,  we  should  remember  that  Hobart  and  his  friends 
were  believed  to  threaten  the  powers  of  the  rulers  of  the  Prov- 
ince, and  that  such  threats  imperilled  the  right  of  self-govern- 
ment. We  know,  also,  that  they  were  dreaded,  because  they 
troubled  the  churches,  and  those  who  troubled  the  churches 
were  believed  to  endanger  souls.  On  both  sides  we  find  eiTor ; 
on  both  sides  sincerity, — the  great  manly  virtue  fi*om  which  aU 
virtue  springs.  There  have  been  men  of  gentler  disposition 
than  Peter  Hobart,  of  more  enlightened  views  than  Gov.  Win- 
throp,  of  more  refined  taste,  of  more  graceful  speech  than  any  of 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers  ;  but  those  men  have  no  New  England  for 
then*  monument. 

Besides  this  internal  strife,  your  fathers  were  constantly  in 
danger  from  the  savages  and  from  the  enemies  of  England. 
They  sent  six  men  to  fight  the  Pequots  in  1637.  They  armed 
against  the  French,  the  Dutch  and  the  Spaniards.  The  mounds 
in  the  burial  place  at  Hingham  are  believed  to  be  relics  of  the 
Dutch  fort.  Capt.  Thomas  Andrews  and  nine  others  perished 
in  Sir  William  Phipps'  expedition,  in  1690,  one  of  the  party 
being  slain  by  the  enemy,  and  the  others  dying  of  small-2:)0x. 
Major  Samuel  Thaxter  and  five  other  citizens  of  Hingham  were 
taken  prisoners  at  the  fall  of  Fort  William  Henry  in  1757.  Two 
Hingham  men  had  been  captured  before  the  suri'ender  of  the 
fort,  one  of  whom  was  j^ut  to  death,  and  one  of  whom,  Jere- 
miah Lincoln  by  name,  escaped  from  captivity  to  lead  an  hon- 
orable and  useful  life.  Knight  Sprague,  a  survivor  of  this  ex- 
pedition, lived  to  a  great  age,  at  Leicester,  Massachusetts.  Caj^t. 
Joshua  Barker  was  among  those  who  served  in  the  attack  on 
Havana  in  1740.  For  these  facts  I  am  indebted  to  the  careful 
researches  of  that  learned  antiquarian,  your  neighbor  and  friend, 
Hon.  Solomon  Lincoln.  These  wars  were  a  fit  prei:)aration  for 
the  great  war  of  Independence.  The  stories  of  the  living  and 
the  memory  of  the  dead  kept  ahve  a  martial  spirit  in  the  hearts 
of  the  colonists, — cAen  as  the  stories  of  '76  and  the  memories  of 
1812  prepared  for  the  greater  contest  of  our  own  day. 

An  interesting  event  in  the  annals  of  your  parent  town  was 
the  obtaining  of  a  deed  of  its  territory  from  the  heirs  of  Chick- 
atabut.     This  powerful  sachem,  living  on  the  banks  of  the  Ne- 1 


Centennial  Anniversary.  17 

ponset,  niled  over  a  great  part  of  what  is  now  Plymouth  and 
Norfolk  Counties.  He  is  supposed  to  have  given  i^erniission  to 
the  first  settlers  to  make  Hingham  their  home.  His  sons,  Wam- 
patuck,  Squmuck  and  Ahahden,  deeded  the  whole  tract  which 
comprise  Hingham  and  Cohasset  to  Capt.  Joshua  Hubbard  and 
Ensign  John  Thaxter  for  the  inhabitants,  in  1665,  on  the  4th  of 
July.  That  day  was  destined  to  become  famous  as  the  date  of 
an  infinitely  greater  charter. 

The  first  mention  of  this  locality  in  the  town  records  of  Hing- 
ham is  in  February,  1647,  when  division  of  meadow  laud  was 
made  among  the  proprietors  at  Conghasset.  Not  all  of  these 
proprietors,  however,  were  residents  of  this  territory.  The  first 
Hingham  settlers  here  are  said,  by  Rev.  Mr.  Flint,  to  have  borne 
the  familiar  names  of  Beal,  Gushing,  James,  Lincoln,  Tower  and 
Sutton.  With  these  were  joined  the  families  of  Bates,  Kent, 
Nichols,  Orcutt,  Pratt  and  Stoddard.  The  first  settlement  is 
reported  to  have  been  at  Rocky-nook,  and  on  the  Jerusalem 
Road.  The  name  of  your  town  is  said  by.  some  to  mean  "  a 
fishing  promontory ; "  by  others  to  mean  "  a  place  of  rocks." 
Either  name  would  fit  ,the  place,  and  either  name  would  apply 
to  Cohasset  Narrows  in  Sandwich.  Mr.  Trumbull,  the  best  liv- 
ing authority,  assures  me  that  neither  of  these  is  correct.  Un- 
fortunately he  cannot  give  the  true  meaning  of  the  word.  It  is 
enough  that  Cohasset  now  means  a  j^lace  where,  for  two  hun- 
dred years,  upright  men  have  led  honorable  lives,  and  where  an 
honest  New  England  town  has  flourished  for  a  century. 

In  1714,  Hingham  was  requested  in  vain  to  remit  the  school 
and  ministerial  taxes  to  this  portion  of  the  old  town.  In  1715 
Hingham  voted  to  grant  the  request,  provided  that  Cohasset 
would  settle  an  orthodox  minister,  and  accept  this  settlement  of 
the  matter  cheerfully.  But  the  citizens  of  Cohasset  voted  that 
they  could  not  do  so  cheerfully.  In  1717,  an  Act  of  the  Gen- 
eral Court  was  obtained  creating  a  second  jiarish  in  Hingham  ; 
and  on  July  14,  1718,  the  Act  was  accepted  at  a  meeting,  over 
which  Daniel  Lincoln  presided.  The  meeting  was  called  for 
Cohasset,  alias  Little  Hingham.  This  strange  phrase  is  several 
times  repeated.  To  lawyers  the  word  alias  savors  of  anything 
but  honesty.  Yet  here  it  was  applied  to  a  community  as  honest 
as  ever  breathed. 


18  Town  of  Cohasset. 

In  1719,  a  fast  was  appointed  for  the  third  Thursday  of  April, 
in  order  to  give  a  minister  a  call.  Mr.  Pierpont  was  called  at 
this  time,  and  Mr.  Spear  in  the  spring  of  1721.  But  no  one  was 
settled  until  September  of  that  year,  when  Nehemiah  Hobart 
became  pastor.  In  1727,  the  precinct  petitioned  the  General 
Court  for  liberty  to  apply  taxes  to  schools  ;  and  in  October,  1728, 
schools  were  established.  In  1731,  it  was  voted  that  the  two 
arms  of  the  district  should  each  have  its  share  of  school  money, 
Rocky-nook  at  one  end,  and  the  Beech-Woods  at  the  other. 

In  1740,  the  church  lost  its  able  and  beloved  pastor,  who  was 
a  worthy  descendant  of  Peter  Hobart.  His  place  was  not  filled 
without  long  delay,  nor  without  various  attempts  to  fix  proper 
terms.  One  proposition  was  to  pay  £400,  old  tenor,  as  settlement, 
and  £350  as  salary,  corn  and  rye  to  be  taken  at  15s.  in  February, 
and  beef  at  lOd.  in  November,  with  money  enough  for  twenty 
cords  of  wood.  John  Fowle  was  for  a  short  time  the  successor 
of  Mr.  Hobart,  and  then  Rev.  John  Brown  became  pastor. 
This  able  preachej;  served  faithfully  for  forty-five  years,  preach- 
ing on  the  last  Sabbath  of  his  life,  and  dying  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
six.  Governor  Hancock's  state  visit  to  him  was  a  great  event  in 
Cohasset.  Your  town  is  filled  with  traditions  of  his  quaint  say- 
ings. Serving  for  one  campaign  as  regimental  chaplain  in  the 
Nova  Scotia  expedition,  he  never  lost  his  military  spirit,  and  his 
love  of  liberty  made  him  a  warm  friend  of  Independence. 
When  the  mild  and  conservative  Mr.  Gay  asked  him  what  he 
would  do  if  the  British  should  come  into  Cohasset  Harbor  and 
try  to  burn  the  vessels,  your  minister  replied  :  "  I  would  shoot 
them  ! "  When,  at  a  meeting  in  1775,  he  had  urged  recruits  to 
enlist,  and  an  old  man  had  taunted  him  with  calling  upon  others 
to  do  what  he  dared  not  do,  he  raised  his  staff  and  threatened 
to  cane  the  "  old  Tory  "  who  insulted  him.  His  sermon,  preached 
to  volunteers  under  the  old  elm  in  Hingham,  was  a  powerful 
exhortation  to  fight  for  the  liberties  of  America.  A  stimnof 
sermon  on  the  Boston  massacre  was  published.  No  one,  then, 
had  proclaimed  that  a  clergyman  should  never  exhort  men  to 
discharge  their  duties  in  this  world ;  no  one  had  denied  that 
patriotism  is  a  duty.  Woe  to  New  England,  if,  when  liberty, 
loyalty  and  humanity  are  in  danger,  her  pulpit  ever  shall  be 
dumb. 


Centennial  Anniversary.  19 

In  1750,  it  was  reported,  at  a  parish  meeting,  that  the  meet- 
ing-house had  been  completed  at  a  cost  of  £4,000.  This  was, 
of  course,  old  tenor,  but  it  was  a  large  sum  for  the  men  of  those 
days.  The  building  was  sufficiently  completed  to  be  used  in 
1747-48.  This  is  the  building  in  which  we  now  are  assembled, 
and  for  more  than  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  its  walls  have 
echoed  the  prayers  and  praises  of  four  generations  of  men. 

In  March,  1752,  it  was  voted  to  petition  Hingham  and  the 
General  Court  for  the  setting  off  of  a  new  town.  This  project 
was  renewed  again  and  again,  more  especially  when  town  meet- 
ings became  frequent,  on  account  of  the  questions  with  the 
Mother  Country.  But  Hingham,  while  earnest  for  Indfipen- 
dence,  could  not  see  the  importance  of  self-government  to  her 
subject  province.  Yet  her  oj)position  was  after  all  a  comj^li- 
ment.  No  wonder  that  the  parent  town  was  loth  to  part  with 
so  fair  a  territory  and  with  so  worthy  a  people. 

Before  leaving  Hingham,  let  me  refer  to  a  vote  in  1768,  when 
impending  trouble  with  England  admonished  the  people  to  look 
well  to  their  ways.  A  committee  was  chosen  in  March,  com- 
posed of  the  best  men  in  the  ,town,  who,  in  May,  reported  re- 
solves:  "First,  that  we  will,  by  all  ways  and  means  in  our 
power,  encourage  and  promote  the  practice  of  virtue  and  sup- 
pressing of  vice  and  immorality,  the  latter  of  which  seem  daily 
increasing  among  us,  and  the  decay  of  the  former  much  to  be 
lamented."     This  "  passed  in  the  affirmative." 

Next,  they  reported,  that  to  jDromote  vix-tue  and  discourage 
vice,  it  Avas  desirable  to  lessen  the  number  of  licensed  houses, 
so  that  there  should  only  be  six  in  the  town,  three  in  the  North 
Parish,  two  in  the  East  and  one  in  the  South.  This  passed  in 
the  negative,  for  there  were  men  in  those  days  (the  race  is  now 
extinct)  Avho  loved  virtue  in  the  abstract,  but  opposed  every 
practical  measure  for  the  suppression  of  vice. 

On  March  23,  1767,  it  was  voted  by  this  precinct  not  to  give 
up  singing  line  by  line,  conservatism  winning  a  victory  over  the 
radical  youth  of  the  church  ;  and  in  March,  1768,  the  porch  was 
added  to  this  house. 

On  May  7,  1770,  the  Act  of  Incorporation,  which  had  been 
signed  by  Lieut.  Gov.  Hutchinson  on  April  26,  was  accepted  at 
a  meeting,  where  Dea.  Isaac  Lincoln  acted  as  moderator,  and 


20  Town  of  Cohasset. 

Daniel  Lincoln  as  clerk.  It  was  voted  to  ask  tliat  the  style  of 
"  district "  be  changed  to  "  town."  I  have  referred  to  the  Gen- 
eral Act  by  which  this  was  finally  accomplished. 

In  December,  1770,  it  was  voted  that  each  child  bring*  one 
foot  of  wood  to  school,  or  Is.  6d.,  and  the  assessors  should 
charge  each  person  that  was  "  behind."  Such  votes  carry  us 
back  to  primitive  times,  and  remind  us  that  even  then  the  edu- 
cation of  children  was  not  neglected.  The  annual  election  of 
"deer-reeves"  tells  of  the  time  when  the  beech-woods  were 
alive  with  game,  as  the  mention  of  Turkey  Hill,  in  running  the 
bounds  of  the  precinct  in  1747,  kindles  the  imagination  of 
sportsmen.  But  graver  matters  soon  occupied  the  minds  of 
men  who  could  use  fire-arms.  On  March  7, 1774,  it  was  voted  to 
build  a  closet  in  the  meeting-house  for  ammunition.  Already 
the  little  town  was  preparing  to  resist  the  British  Empire  ;  and 
the  same  walls  that  heard  your  fathers'  prayers  for  deliverance, 
and  their  resolves  to  resist  oppression,  sheltered  the  ammunition 
which  was  to  enforce  those  resolves,  and  to  show  that  those 
prayers  were  honest. 

On  December  25, 1774,  the  town  chose  a  committee  of  eleven, 
agreeably  to  the  Articles  of  the  Continental  Association.  Jesse 
Stephenson  was  chairman  of  this  committee.  Thomas  Lothrop 
wa^  placed  at  the  head  of  a  committee  to  draft  a  paper  to 
be  signed  by  freeholders  in  approval  of  that  association.  At 
the  same  meeting,  it  was  voted  to  pay  the  province  tax  to 
Henry  Gardner,  and  to  indemnify  the  selectmen  and  constables 
for  so  doing.  This  seems  a  simple  matter.  But  Mr.  Gai-dner 
was  treasurer  under  a  revolutionary  government,  and  this  vote 
was  an  act  of  treason.  Thus,  day  by  day,  in  regular  town  meet- 
ing, by  solemn  vote,  each  little  municipality  fell  into  the  ranks, 
and  pledged  its  faith  for  the  contest  with  Great  Britain. 

On  March  6,  1775,  it  was  voted  to  pay  the  share  of  Cohasset 
for  Deacon  Lincoln's  attendance  on  the  Provincial  Congress 
and  for  Col.  Benjamin  Lincoln's  attendance  at  the  Genera 
Court  at  Salem.  It  was  worth  while  to  be  united  with  Hing 
ham  in  the  choice  of  a  representative,  since  thus  you  shared  the 
credit  of  having  such  a  patriot  as  your  spokesman.  Again,  u 
November,  1775,  your  fathers  joined  with  Hingham  in  sendinj 
Col.  Lincoln  to  the  Provincial  Congress  at  Concord  and  a 


Centennial  Anniversary.  21 

"Watertown.  Thus,  by  being  united  with  Hingham  as  a  repre- 
sentative district,  your  town  was  honored  in  sending  to  the  leg- 
islature the  able  general  who  was  destined  to  receive  the  sur- 
render of  Cornwallis,  to  sit  in  the  United  States  Cabinet,  to 
crush  by  his  vigor  the  rebellion  of  Shay,  and  to  continue  always 
the  trusted  friend  of  Washington. 

On  April  28,  it  was  voted  to  buy  500  bushels  of  corn,  100 
pounds  of  gunpowder  and  500  flints.  On  May  29,  a  committee 
of  correspondence  was  chosen,  of  which  Dea.  Isaac  Lothrop  was 
chairman.  Also  a  committee,  of  which  Joseph  Luther  was  the 
head,  to  call  on  Major  Thomas  Lothrop,  to  see  whether  he  will 
call  the  alarm  list  together  and  settle  them  in  some  order.  In 
March  next  a  committee  of  safety  was  chosen,  of  which  Thomas 
Lincoln  was  chairman.  In  May,  Jonathan  Beal  was  elected  rep- 
resentative. On  June  15, 1776,  it  was  voted  (and  no  other  vote 
was  taken)  that  if  the  Honorable  American  Congress  should 
declare  the  United  Colonies  independent  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Great  Britain,  the  town  would  support  it  with  their  lives  and 
fortunes.  Thus,  when  Congress  made  the  declaration,  they  only 
echoed  the  voices  of  the  people,  and  renewed  their  sacred 
pledges. 

On  August  22,  it  was  voted  to  raise  £52  as  a  bounty  for  four 
soldiers  required  for  the  Northern  army.  In  September,  £62 
were  raised  as  bounty  for  sixteen  soldiers  to  march  to  Connec- 
ticut. In  December,  forty  shillings  were  added  to  the  pay  of 
volunteers  to  encourage  them  to  march  on  the  shortest  notice. 
Subsequent  additions  were  made  to  this  sum,  and  a  final  addi- 
tion was  voted  of  £3,  if  ordered  to  march.  At  a  later  date,  the 
sum  of  £10  was  given  for  three  years  enlistments. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  was,  in  December,  copied 
into  the  town  records.  That  Declaration,  as  all  the  world 
knows,  contained  the  immortal  words,  "  All  men  are  created 
equal."  Now,  I  say  it  reverently,  these  words  have  become  flesh 
[here  the  speaker  pointed  to  Senator  Revels],  and  appear 
before  us  to-day. 

The  towii  did  its  full  sliare  of  service  in  the  war.  One  full 
company,  commanded  by  Capt.  Job  Cushing,  was  attached  to 
Col.  Revere's  regiment.  Capt.  Stow'crs  commanded  a  company, 
nearly  all  from  Cohasset,  who  did  guard  duty  on  the  coast ;  and 


22  Town  of  Cohasset, 

Noah  Nichols  was  commissioned  as  captain  of  an  artillery  com- 
pany comprising  many  Cohasset  men. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  controversy,  your  town  was  repre- 
sented at  the  Boston  tea-party  by  Major  James  Stoddard.  Tra- 
dition tells,  also,  of  an  English  brig  bound  for  Boston  with  sup- 
plies for  the  British  amiy  becalmed  off  these  shores,  and  taken 
by  a  boat  manned  by  Cohasset  men.  Major  Stoddard  was  the 
leading  spirit  on  this  occasion ;  and  when  one  of  the  boat's  crew 
pointed  to  the  brig's  artillery  and  proposed  to  return,  the  major 
declared  that  there  should  be  no  going  back.  The  defences  of 
the  brig  proved  to  be  "  quaker  guns,"  and  she  became  an  easy 
prize.  Her  cargo  was  rum ;  and  if,  as  is  reported,  the  town  was 
for  a  few  days  a  little  more  lively  than  usual,  we  must  borrow 
the  words  of  Burke,  and  "  pardon  something  to  the  spirit  of 
liberty." 

Many  of  you  must  remember  the  veteran  Noah  Nichols,  who 
was  accustomed  in  his  old  age  to  shoulder  his  fii-e-lock 

"  And  show  how  fields  were  won." 

You  have  heard  his  story  of  Washington  ordering  him  to  repair 
the  wheel  of  a  gun  carriage  while  on  a  forced  march,  of  his  re- 
quest for  permission  to  stop  while  mending  it,  and  of  the  gen- 
eral's abrupt  refusal.  "  It  was  the  hardest  thing  I  ever  did,"  the 
old  man  would  add,  "  but  I  did  it." 

One  of  your  truest  patriots  in  this  contest  was  Joseph  Bates. 
Marching  to  join  the  army  around  Boston,  he  declared  that  he 
never  should  return.  He  fought  at  Bunker  Hill,  and  when  the 
ammunition  of  the  Americans  had  failed,  and  they  were  obliged 
to  retreat,  he  was  seen  throwing  stones  at  the  well-armed  British 
soldiers  as  they  swarmed  into  the  redoubt.  Such  was  the  spirit 
of  our  fathers,  firm  in  defeat;  cast  down  but  not  destroyed. 
Well  did  Washington  say,  when  he  heard  of  the  result,  the  re- 
treat, the  British  victory,  but  heard,  also,  of  the  spirit  of  the 
people — well  did  he  say :  "  Thank  God,  America  is  free." 
When  a  man  is  in  earnest  for  the  right,  whether  he  stands  on  a 
lost  battle-field  in  CharlestowTi,  Massachusetts,  or  beneath  a  gal- 
lows in  Charlestown,  Virginia,  he  knows  that  failure  is  only  the 
prelude  of  success,  and  that  death  will,  at  last,  be  swallowed  up 
in  victory. 


Centennial  Anniversary.  23 

During  the  war,  in  1780,  the  Constitution  of  this  State  was 
adopted,  with  its  Bill  of  Rights,  containing  the  words :  "  All 
men  are  created  free  and  equal."  These  words  are  often  mis- 
quoted as  occurring  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  but  the 
slaveholder  who  wrote  that  instrument  did  not  and  could  not 
use  the  word  "  free."  It  was  inserted  in  our  Bill  of  Rights  by 
a  wise  judge,  in  order  to  abolish  human  bondage  in  Massachu- 
setts. Prior  to  this  time,  slavery  was  held  to  have  a  legal  exist- 
ence in  Massachusetts;  and,  as  the  old  records  of  Hingham 
show,  even  the  soil  of  Cohas&et  was  trodden  by  master  and 
slave.  But  after  the  adoption  of  the  State  Constitution,  a  fel- 
low-townsman of  your  fathers  by  birth,  Levi  Lincoln,  trying  the 
cause  of  a  man  held  as  a  slave  in  Worcester  County,  procured 
the  decision  that  broke  the  shackles  of  every  bondman  in  Mas- 
sachusetts. Mr.  Lincoln,  who  was  born  in  Hingham,  rose  to 
great  eminence  at  the  bar,  was  chosen  to  Congress,  was  ap- 
pointed attorney-general,  held  the  office  of  lieutenant-governor 
in  this  State,  and  declined  appointment  as  judge  of  the  supreme 
court  of  the  United  States.  But  his  greatest  honor  was,  that 
he  pleaded  the  cause  of  the  oppressed,  and  won  a  victory  for 
freedom. 

This  was  one  of  the  forward  steps  that  gained  for  our  State 
its  proud  position.  When  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  went  into 
operation  a  few  weeks  since,  it  had  no  effect  in  Massachusetts. 
Here  was  no  law  which  it  could  repeal.  Other  States  obtained 
their  freedom  with  a  great  i^rice.     We  were  born  free. 

The  war  of  1812  found  the  men  of  Cohasset  ready  to  stand 
by  the  flag,  although  they  were  not  attached  to  the  administra- 
tion, and  although  the  town  had  suffered  greatly  from  the  em- 
bargo. They  forgot  that  they  were  Democrats  or  Federalists, 
and  only  remembered  that  they  were  Americans.  A  committee 
of  safety  was  chosen,  a  coast-guard  of  seventy-five  was  formed, 
and  a  committee  was  sent  to  ask  arms  and  ammunition  from  the 
State.  Lieut.  Gov.  Cobb  (in  the  absence  of  Gov.  Strong),  re- 
fused the  request,  and  recommended  the  hoisting  of  a  wliite 
flag.  The  men  of  Cohasset  disdained  the  timid  counsels  of  the 
executive,  and  finally  procured  muskets  and  a  field-piece.  The 
executive  of  to-day  would  give  no  such  prudent  advice  in  any 
similar  peril.     Governor  and  lieutenant-governor  alike  would 


24  Town  of  Coliasset. 

counsel  the  use  of  no  flag  except  their  country's  flag, — and  that, 
nailed  to  the  mast. 

In  June,  1814,  a  British  man-of-war  having  sent  a  flotilla  of 
barges  to  burn  the  shipping  of  Scituate,  sailed  for  Cohasset  on 
a  like  errand.  Capt.  Peter  Lothrop,  roused  by  a  messenger  from  ' 
Scituate,  leaped  from  his  bed ;  and  without  hat  or  coat,  mount- 
ing a  horse  without  a  saddle,  rode  through  the  village  and 
roused  the  slumbering  inhabitants.  Marching  to  White-Head, 
the  militia  and  other  citizens  threw  up  an  earthwork,  pastor  and 
people  working  together ;  and  when,  on  Sunday  morning,  the 
British  appeared,  they  found  a  redoubt  held  by  what  appeared 
to  be  a  formidable  force.  The  enemy  withdrew ;  the  fleet  of 
twenty-seven  vessels  was  carried  to  Gulf  River  and  scuttled. 
The  militia  of  Hingham  and  Weymouth,  with  the  artillery  of 
Abington,  Hanover  and  Scituate,  marched  to  Cohasset ;  and  for 
three  months  White-Head  was  occupied  by  a  garrison.  And  so 
the  community  was  kept  in  constant  alarm,  till,  on  February  21, 
came  the  glad  tidings  of  peace,  which  was  celebrated,  with  the 
birthday  of  Washington,  by  a  dinner  at  the  academy. 

The  diary  of  Josiah  Willcutt  tells  of  the  fishing  schooner 
Nancy,  captured  in  September,  1814,  two  of  her  crew  being  set 
ashore  at  Plymouth,  and  the  others  carried  to  Halifax  jail.  In 
April,  1815,  Ezekiel  Wallace  returned,  bringing  news  that 
Isaiah  Lincoln  had  died  in  prison.  England  alone,  among  civi- 
lized nations,  makes  war  on  poor  fishermen. 

Tradition  tells  of  a  brave  son  of  Cohasset  who  could  not  bear 
to  see  the  English  fleet  insulting  our  shores.  Alone  he  em- 
barked in  his  ducking  boat,  declaring  that  he  would  have  one 
shot  at  the  enemy.  He  fired  his  shot  with  effect,  but  was  taken 
prisoner,  and  died  in  Halifax  jail.  I  have  inquired  in  vain  for 
his  name,  but  I  cannot  give  up  my  fixith  in  the  story  of  the  Brit- 
ish fleet  assailed  by  a  punt. 

To  us  it  seems  strange  that  through  this  contest  the  shores  of 
this  State  were  invested  by  the  enemy — Nantucket  flying  a  flag 
of  truce,  Provincetown  Harbor  occupied  by  a  hostile  fleet,  and 
Boston  closely  blockaded.  This  can  never  happen  again.  The 
growth  of  the  country  forbids  it.  Our  mail-clad  ships  would 
forbid  it.  And,  better  far,  the  spirit  of  the  people  would  guard 
the  shores  from  foreign  insult.     There  may  be  different  opinions 


Centennial  Anniversary.  25 

as  to  the  efficiency  of  our  navy  as  compared  with  England's. 
But  there  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  sailors  who  would  man  our 
navy. 

"  Vain  are  those  fleets  of  iron  framed, 

Vain  tliose  all-shattering  guns, 

Unless  THE  Union  keep  untamed 

The  strong  heart  of  her  sous." 

And  that  the  strength  of  American  hearts  is  unbroken,  the 
recent  rebellion  has  shown. 

Your  good  town  early  responded  to  the  call  of  the  country. 
In  May,  1861,  most  liberal  provision  was  made  for  the  pay  of 
volunteers  and  the  support  of  their  families.  Similar  votes  were 
passed  as  need  arose.  And  under  the  folds  of  a  noble  flag, 
given  by  a  patriotic  citizen,  the  sons  of  Cohasset  met,  from  time 
to  time,  to  enlist  for  the  defence  of  the  Union  and  Libeii/y  of 
which  that  flag  is  the  emblem. 

One  of  your  fellow-citizens,  Oliver  E.  Simpson  by  name,  fell 
in  the  first  great  battle  at  Bull  Run.  The  names  of  your  other 
martyrs  are  known  to  you  all — Ai'nold,  Bates,  Litchfield,  Lin- 
coln, Manuel,  Nimms,  Riply,  Shays,  Treat,  Thayer.  William 
Bates  had  the  mournful  honor  of  giving  two  of  his  sons  to  his 
country. 

You  are  all  proud  of  Gen.  Zealous  B.  Tower,  first  in  his  class 
at  West  Point,  afterward  for  a  time  head  of  that  institution, 
distinguished  in  the  Mexican  war,  where  he  fought  by  the  side 
of  Lee  and  Beauregard,  winning  the  high  praise  of  Gen.  Scott, 
serving  bravely  on  many  a  field  of  the  war  against  rebellion, 
wounded  while  fighting  for  the  Union,  known  and  honored 
wherever  courage  and  loyalty  are  honored.  Such  men  are  the 
glory  of  their  homes  and  the  strength  of  America. 

But  I  must  not  forget : 

"  Peace  hath  its  victories 

Not  less  renowned  than  war." 

And  of  such  victories  this  rugged  coast  has  often  been  the 
scene.  For  when  the  gales  have  hurled  the  Atlantic  waves 
upon  Cohasset  rocks,  and  when  some  vessel  has  become  a  wreck, 
there  have  never  been  wanting  men  who  were  ready  to  risk 
their  lives  to  save  the  forlorn  strangers,  and  every  house  has 
4 


26  Town  of  Cohasset. 

been  ready  to  become  a  home  for  the  rescued  mariner.  The 
days  of  chivalry  have  not  gone,  when  every  north-easterly 
storm  summons  to  the  shores  of  New  England  a  host  of  men 
ready  to  brave  death  in  the  hope  of  saving  life.  To-day  you 
can  point  out  the  men,  who,  if  to-mon-ow  morning  should  bring 
a  storm  and  a  wreck,  would  man  the  life-boat  and  welcome  the 
shipwrecked  sailor.  If  I  must  ever  be  subject  to  marine  disas- 
ter (which  is  not  wholly  improbable),  let  it  be  off  Cohasset,  and 
let  some  Doane,  or  Lothrop,  or  Tower,  receive  me  on  the  shore. 

Grandest  of  all  the  scenes  of  nature  is  a  winter  storm  upon  a 
rocky  coast.  But  grander  far  to  see,  as  I  saw  once,  as  you  have 
often  -seen,  the  will  of  man  triumphant  over  the  strife  of  the 
elements.  The  stranded  vessel  lies  hopeless  on  the  shoal.  Her 
master  is  lashed  to  the  bulwarks ;  the  freezing  sleet  has  numbed 
his  limbs;  eveiy  wave  dashes  over  him.  All  the  billows  of 
despair  have  gone  over  his  soul.  Then  a  man  of  the  sea  leaps 
into  his  cockle-shell  of  a  boat,  sends  a  token  to  his  children, 
who  may  be  orphans  at  night,  and  guides  his  fi'ail  canoe  among 
the  rocks.  Now  the  waves  have  swallowed  him  up,  but  strength 
and  skill  prevail ;  he  reaches  the  ship ;  he  bears  the  almost  life- 
less sailor  in  safety  from  the  parting  fragments  of  the  wreck. 

Time  would  fail  me  if  I  sought  to  recall  all  the  marine  disas- 
ters which  this  spot  has  witnessed.     Let  a  few  records  suffice. 

On  February  12,  1793,  the  Danish  ship  Gertrude  Maria,  in  a 
driving  snow  storm,  struck  on  a  ledge,  and  finally  went  to  pieces 
on  Brush  Island,  where  the  survivors  of  the  wreck  found  poor 
shelter  for  the  night.  In  the  morning  hardy  sailors  rescued 
them,  with  great  hazard,  losing  one  boat  upon  the  rocks,  and 
humane  friends  sheltered  them  at  their  homes.  This  was  the 
reception  of  men,  who,  fearing  that  they  were  about  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  savages,  had  cut  the  gilded  buttons  from  their 
coats,  lest  they  should  tempt  the  barbarous  people  to  crime. 

The  King  of  Denmark,  learning  the  facts,  sent  medals  of  gold 
and  silver  to  honor  the  gallantry  and  humanity  of  the  people  of 
Cohasset ;  and  when,  years  after,  Mr.  Hubbard,  a  citizen  of  Bos- 
ton, was  carried  into  the  harbor  of  St.  Croix  dangerously  sick, 
the  health  laws  were  suspended  ;  the  rigorous  quarantine  gave 
way  in  token  of  the  hospitality  which  Capt.  Clien  and  his  men 
had  received  when  wrecked  at  Cohasset  near  the  port  of  Boston. 


Centennial  Anniversary.  27 

Thus  was  America  honored  in  distant  lands ;  the  humanity  of 
your  fathers  was  repaid  to  a  stranger,  and  the  nations  of  the 
world  were  brought  nearer  to  each  other. 

Rev.  Mr.  Shaw  was  among  those  who  were  conspicuous  for 
their  humanity.  The  names  of  Doane  and  Tower  were  not 
wanting  on  the  Roll  of  Honor.  The  proceeds  of  one  of  the 
gold  medals  were  most  apj^ropriately  used  to  add  to  the  com- 
munion plate  of  the  first  church — appropriately,  for  when  the 
imen  of  Cohasset  rescued  and  fed  and  clothed  and  sheltered  the 
poor  wayfarers  cast  upon  these  shores,  they  bestowed  their  gifts 
on  Him  who  is  commemorated  by  the  communion  service  : 

"  The  Holy  Supper  is  kept  indeed 
In  whatso  we  share  with  another's  need." 

In  October,  1849,  the  British  brig  St.  John,  with  immigrants 
from  Galway,  struck  on  the  Sea  Ledges,  a  little  to  the  west  of 
the  Minot,  and  immediately  went  to  pieces.  More  than  a  hun- 
dred of  her  passengers  were  drowned.  Others  were  rescued  by 
the  humane  exertions  and  heroic  daring  of  the  men  of  Cohasset ; 
and  every  house  was  open  to  welcome  those  who*  were  thus 
snatched  from  the  grave.  I  have  already  named  the  founders 
of  your  town.  Let  me  name  some  of  those  who,  in  our  own 
Iday,  sustained  its  honor  and  the  honor  of  humanity.  Studley, 
Snow,  Lawrence,  Hardwick,  Lothrop,  Tower — these  were  prom- 
inent in  their  efforts  to  save.  I  have  not  been  able  to  procure 
ithe  names  of  all.  Their  modesty  will  thank  me,  as  the  modesty 
of  all  would  have  thanked  me,  if  all  the  names  had  been  with- 
held. 

One  affecting  incident  of  the  wi'eck  must  be  familiar  to  you 
all.  Mr.  Lothrop  watched  a  little  package  that  floated  in  the 
surf,  and  grasping  it,  found,  to  his  surprise,  an  infant  girl.  The 
mother  had  wrapped  up  her  child  with  careful  hands,  and  com- 
mitted her  to  the  waves,  as  once  a  ihother  placed  her  loved  child 
in  a  little  ark  upon  the  water's  edge,  and  prayed  that  Heaven 
would  save  the  infant's  life.  And  this  child,  also,  Avas  received 
into  princely  hands.  But  a  mother's  care  and  the  stranger's 
daring  would  have  been  vain,  had  it  not  been  decreed  by  Ilim 
who  holds  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand  that  this  child 
should  live  and  not  die. 


28  Town  of  Cohasset. 

Another  child  was  brought  in  this  vessel  by  her  aunt  to  meet 
the  mother  who  had  come  to  America  before.  When  the  mother 
sought  her  infant,  she  found  her  resting  with  her  head  upon  the 
shoulder  of  her  aunt,  but  the  child  and  the  woman  alike  were 
dead.     The  heart-broken  mother  only  survived  for  three  days. 

In  striking  contrast  with  the  heroism  and  kindness  of  your 
people,  was  the  heartlessness  of  the  captain  of  the  St.  John, 
who,  with  the  crew,  left  his  vessel  in  a  boat  only  half  filled,  and 
who,  in  his  cruel  cowardice,  neglected  to  inform  the  crew  of  a 
life-boat  that  his  wrecked  vessel  was  filled  with  perishing  men 
and  women. 

Life  is  filled  with  just  such  contrasts.  The  same  waters  that 
witnessed  the  heroism  of  Capt.  Williams  and  his  officers  going 
down  at  their  posts,  unwilUng  to  desert  the  sinking  flag,  saw 
the  captain  of  the  Bombay  leaving  the  ship  whose  sides  he  had 
crushed,  hurrying  away  as  fast  as  wind  and  steam  could  cany 
him,  trembUng  all  over  with  cruel  fear,  lest  in  the  bottom  of  his 
vessel  there  might  be  some  plank  as  rotten  as  his  own  heart. 

On  January  19, 1857,  the  brigantine  New  Empire  was  wrecked 
at  Little  White  Head.  The  floating  ice  prevented  all  aj^proach 
to  the  shore.  Peter  FoUen,  procuring  two  cylinders  fi^"om  the 
Humane  House,  placed  them  beneath  his  knees,  and  took  a  line 
to  the  ship,  casting  in  his  lot  with  the  shipwrecked  men  that  he 
might  save  them  all. 

Of  course  the  standard  jokes  about  wreckers  are  related  o! 
the  inhabitants  of  these  shores.  Of  one  it  is  said  especially, 
that  when  asked  what  his  luck  had  been  for  the  season,  he  an 
swered  :  "  I  got  a  good  deal  of  stuff  and  put  it  in  the  barn,  bulj] 
they  do  steal  so  the  second  time,  that  sometimes  I  almost  wisl 
there  never  would  be  another  wreck." 

A  much  better  authenticated  story,  is  that  of  the  Swedisl 
brig  wrecked  on  IMinot's  Ledge,  December,  1836  ;  her  two  deck; 
washing  ashore  upon  Beach  Island,  three  miles  distant,  he 
precious  cargo  strewn  all  along  the  shores  upon  the  bottom  o 
the  sea.  Ninety  per  cent,  of  that  cargo  was  recovered ;  ever^ 
bar  of  iron  was  delivered  to  the  owners,  the  count  answering 
the  invoice ;  while  of  forty  bales  of  crash,  consigned  to  om 
Boston  merchant,  forty  save  one  were  carried  to  him  in  th^ 
winter,  and  the  remaining  bale  was  restored  in  June. 


Centennial  Anniversary.  29 

In  1798,  the  last  slave  ship  that  sailed  from  Boston  was  driven 
upon  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  your  harbor,  and  so  her  criminal 
voyage  came  to  a  fortunate  end. 

Since  the  erection  of  Minot  Light,  these  disasters  are  almost 
unknown  in  this  spot.  The  whole  country  recollects  the  de- 
struction of  the  first  light  in  April,  1851.  A  long  stonn  had 
strewn  the  shores  of  New  England  with  shipwrecked  vessels. 
A  foraier  gale  had  shattered  one  of  the  iron  pillars  that  upheld 
the  structure.  And  when  the  morning  light  of  April  18  broke 
through  the  stonn,  the  anxious  eyes  that  looked  seaward  could 
see  no  vestige  of  the  lighthouse.  Two  men  perished  in  its 
downfall.  The  present  structure  is  the  pride  of  the  coast.  Had 
it  been  erected  in  ancient  times,  it  would  have  added  one  to  the 
wonders  of  the  world.  As  it  stands  now,  firm  and  erect  amid 
the  raging  sea,  it  is  not  only  a  noble  triumph  of  human  skill, 
but  the  fittest  emblem  of  a  true  man  constant  for  the  right 
against  a  gainsaying  world.  Such  a  symbol  might  have  been 
borne  upon  the  coat-of-arms  of  Peter  Hobart  in  1645,  or,  in 
1829,  upon  the  spotless  shield  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison. 

But  it  is  not  in  scenes  of  war  or  of  wreck  that  the  true  life 
of  such  a  town  is  found.     You  love  Cohasset,  because  here  for 
generations   an   industrious,  intelligent  and   contented  people 
have  found  a  happy  home.     Here,  as  among  all  your  neighbors 
of  the  South  Shore,  hard  work,  "  plain  living,  high  thinking," 
[  ^  with  peace  and  freedom,  have  been  the  habitual  life  of  the  peo- 
ple.    Your  fathers  turned  early  from  the  hard  and  scanty  soil 
to  reap  their  richest  harvests  on  the  sea.     The  exportation  of 
lumber  to  the  West  Indies  has  ceased.     No  more  fortunes  can 
be  made  by  selling  fish  at  famine  prices  in  the  Atlantic  and 
Mediterranean  ports  of  France  and  the  Peninsula.     But  still, 
I  like  your  fathers,  you  draw  wealth  from  the  ocean,  and  with  it 
the  more  precious  treasures  of  vigor,  energy  and  enterprise. 
Nor  is  agriculture  neglected  even  on  these  shores.     Labor  and 
j   skill  make  your  rocky  fields  productive.     Your  pleasant  beaches 
y  tempt  and  refresh  the  wearied  fugitives  from  the  cares  and  toils 
01  of  the  city.     The  growth  of  Cohasset  in  wealth  has  been  used 
f    as  an  argument  to  stimulate  your  neighbors  to  demand  railroad 
{1  facilities.     Well  may  they  desire  to  share  those  facilities,  when 
they  read  that  your  valuation  has  increased  from  $306,000,  in 


30  Town  of  Cohasset. 

1840,  to  nearly  81,800,000  to-day.  Your  care  of  schools  in- 
creases with  your  wealth,  increasing  the  town  appropriation  ir 
twenty-five  years  from  11,100  to  $4,000.  Three  youngei 
churches  have  grown  up  around  this  venerable  mother.  The 
last  not  only  bears  a  pleasant  name—"  the  Beechwood  Church '. 
—but  its  origin  carries  us  back  to  Puritan  days,  for  it  was 
founded  after  forty  days  of  prayer  by  an  earnest  woman.  And 
while  this  takes  our  thoughts  back  to  old  times,  the  first  contri- 
bution for  this  church  reminds  us  of  a  story  that  can  never  grow 
old.  For  the  first  gift  set  apart  for  its  treasury  was  the  smallest 
coin  that  ever  issued  from  our  mint. 

And  who  and  what  are  the  men  that  are  the  product  of  youij 
institutions  ?  You  may  well  boast  of  Benjamin  Pratt,  who  was 
bora  March  13,1710-11,  in  a  house  on  what  is  now  called  South 
Main  Street — on  a  homestead  which  has  now  been  in  possession 
of  the  family  for  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  years.  A  gifted 
writer  in  prose  and  verse,  an  eloquent  and  successful  lawyer,  he 
was  appointed  to  the  high  place  of  chief  justice  of  New  York,  and 
died  in  1763,  too  early  to  share  in  the  contest  for  Independence, 
although  he  heard  the  argument  of  James  Otis  against  Writs  of 
Assistance,  and  declined  a  retainer  on  each  side  of  that  great; 
argument.  He  had  collected  materials  for  a  history  of  New>  u 
England ;  and  those  Avho  love  to  read  her  story  have  reason  to 
lament  that  he  did  not  complete  his  work.  In  his  youth,  a  fall 
from  a  tree  made  Benjamin  Pratt  a  cripple  for  life,  and  this  waa- 
tlie  reason  that  he  gave  up  his  chosen  occupation  as  a  black/ 
smith  and  become  a  lawyer.  Rare  example  of  Yankee  thrift!, 
Accident  ruins  the  young  blacksmith.  His  parents  send  him  t(ij 
the  greatest  master  of  law,  and  fit  their  unfortunate  boy  t<j' 
become  chief  justice  of  a  great  State.  i 

In  later  days,  Middlebury  College  was  glad  to  receive  a  Co 
basset  man  as  president,  in  the  person  of  Rev.  Dr.  Bates,  li 
have  already  spoken  of  the  soldier  who  is  your  pride.  If  the 
grief  were  not  too  recent,  and  if  his  friends  were  not  so  near,  1 
should  speak  of  the  skilled  and  loved  physician  who  served  thill 
State  faithfully  for  years,  and  whose  hospitality  made  so  mantik '' 
New  Englandei-s  at  home  in  the  heart  of  a  Western  city.  1|' 

The  true  glory  of  this,  as  of  other  New  England  towns,  '^k  '^ 
found,  not  in  the  conspicuous  few,  but  in  the  honorable  and  ust* 


Centennial  Anniversary.  31 

ful  lives  of  the  many.  And  if  a  stranger  desired  to  see  a  com- 
munity who  live  in  the  fear  of  God  and  the  love  of  their  fel- 
low-men ;  who  mind  their  own  business,  and  yet  make  the 
cause  of  the  poor  and  ignorant  their  business  ;  whose  best  men 
render  every  precious  service  to  their  town  without  money  and 
without  price  ;  a  community  from  which  a  dying  man  would  be 
glad  to  select  guardians  for  his  orphan  children ;  a  people  who 
stand  firm  for  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  yet  are  ready  to  receive 
all  the  truths  which  lay  undeveloped  in  the  creed  of  those 
fathers  ;  "  Catholic  for  all  the  truth  of  God  :  Protestant  against 
every  error  of  man ; "  if  a  visitor  sought  such  a  community,  I 
would  take  him  to  a  village  on  the  "  South  Shore  "  and  tell  him 
to  seek  no  farther. 

And  as  we  admire  your  pleasant  town  to-day,  decked  as  it  is 
in  holiday  attire ;  as  we  see  all  around  iis  proofs  of  comfort  and 
thrift  and  taste  and  progress,  we  know  that  we  owe  it  all  to  the 
character  of  our  people  and  to  the  virtues  of  their  ancestors. 
As  I  enjoyed  yesterday  the  beautiful  suburbs  of  Boston,  the 
trim  lawns  and  blossoming  shrubs  and  graceful  mansions,  an  es- 
teemed friend  said  to  me  :  "  It  is  all  the  fruit  of  free  schools." 
And  true  it  is,  that  all  the  comfort  and  elegance  of  your  homes 
is  the  direct  product  of  New  England  institutions  and  of  Pur- 
itan virtues.  Faith  and  thought  made  our  fathers  exiles.  They 
founded  this  new  country  in  faith,  and  reared  their  children  to 
careful  and  vigorous  thought.  They  decreed  that  all  the  chil- 
dren should  be  taught — above  all,  that  they  should  all  be 
'  taught  of  the  Lord." 

They  honored  labor.  Never  was  it  a  reproach  in  New  Eng- 
and,  even  when  slavery  had  a  nominal  existence  here,  that  a 
nan  worked  with  his  hands.  Never  was  there  a  time  when  the 
ulers  of  our  towns,  and  the  majority  of  their  representatives, 
;vere  not  men  who  earned  their  living  by  the  sweat  of  their 
)row. 

They  kept  the  day  of  the  Lord  strictly  according  to  their  light, 
jiving,  on  their  first  Sabbath,  such  an  example  of  devotion  as 
he  world  had  never  seen.  Who  knows  how  much  of  the  en- 
irgy  and  vigor  of  New  England  men  is  due  to  this  their  ances- 
ral  habit  ?  Of  all  innovations  that  are  called  reform,  the  most 
.ccursed  is  that  which  would  rob  the  working  man  of  his  day  of 


32  Town  of  Cohasset. 

rest.  I  speak  not  of  theological  origin  or  of  divine  sanction, 
but  of  common-sense  and  of  human  need.  Men  may  diifer  hon- 
estly about  ten  hour  laws  and  eight  hour  laws,  but  the  worst 
enemy  of  labor  is  the  man  who,  upon  any  pretence,  would  take 
from  the  sons  of  labor  this  precious  inheiitance. 

Let  us  stand  in  the  old  ways ;  with  free  thought,  with  free 
schools,  and,  in  Choate's  words,  "  the  Bible  in  the  schools  as 
long  as  there's  a  piece  of  Plymouth  Rock  left,  big  enough  to 
make  a  gun-flint  of; "  with  the  Sabbath  undesecrated ;  labor 
honored  and  protected ;  public  faith  kept.  Then  we  will  not 
fear  that  any  local  change  in  the  preponderance  of  power,  any 
hostile  legislation,  any  sectional  prejudices,  will  ever  blight  our 
prosperity.  New  England  can  never  be  left  out  in  the  cold 
while  the  fire  of  faith  glows  in  her  heart  and  the  warm  blood 
of  patriotism'courses  in  all  her  veins. 

Men  speak  of  the  danger  from  foreign  influence ;  from  the  hosts 
of  ignorant  immigrants  ;  from  superstition  and  from  atheism.  I 
look  at  our  meeting-houses  and  school-houses,  the  fortifications  of 
America ;  I  find  the  great  heart  of  the  people  sound,  and  I  defy 
all  hostile  powers.  From  unbelief  and  misbelief,  from  tyranny 
and  anarchy,  the  faith  of  our  fathers,  as  firm  as  in  their  day  and 
with  all  the  light  of  this  day,  will  ever  save  us,  even  as  the  rocks 
of  Cohasset  roll  back  the  Atlantic  waves. 

The  red  cedar,  that  fastens  itself  in  the  granite,  and  forces  it- 
self through  the  crevice  of  the  rock,  and  sends  its  roots  deep 
into  the  earth,  and  spreads  its  verdant  boughs  in  spite  of  north 
wind  and  east  wind — that  is  an  emblem  of  New  England  pros- 
perity. It  is  a  symbol  of  native  virtue,  contending  with  cu-cum- 
stances,  triumphant  over  fate.  He  who  planted  that  vigorous 
shoot  on  these  rugged  shores  Avill  sustain  it.  And  while  we  are 
true  to  ourselves,  as  He  was  with  the  fathers,  so  He  will  be  with 
us. 

The  Peesident.  I  will  take  this  occasion  to  introduce  to 
you  a  gentleman  whom  it  gives  us  pleasure  to  have  with  us 
here  to-day,  as  an  honored  representative  of  the  State  of 
Mississippi  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  a  repre- 
sentative, also,  of  a  once  down-trodden  race,  the  Hon. 
HiEAM  Revels,  of  Mississippi.     (Loud  applause.) 


Centennial  Anniversary.  33 

ADDRESS  OF  SENATOR  REVELS. 

3Ir.  President  and  Friends, — I  am  in  no  condition  to  make  a 
speech,  as  I  have  a  very  bad  cold,  and  am  very  hoarse,  as  you 
perceive ;  but  I  cannot  refrain  from  the  effort  to  say  a  fcAV  words, 
at  least,  to  an  audience  like  this — a  body  of  ladies  and  gentle- 
men to  whom  I  and  my  race  owe  so  much. 

It  may  seem  a  little  strange  that  I,  an  entire  stranger  to  most 
of  you,  am  in  your  midst.  Should  it  seem  so  to  any,  I  will 
assign  a  few  reasons  why  I  am  here  :  I  was  invited  to  come,  and 
very  thankfully  accepted  the  invitation.  Again,  I  was  aware, 
that  if  I  came  here  to-day,  I  shou^ld  see  quite  a  number  of  the 
citizens  of  the  old  Bay  State,  whom  I  should  not  see  if  I  did 
not  come.  And,  in  the  next  j^lace,  I  desired  to  see  them  in 
order  that  I  might  say  to  them  what  I  would  I  could  say  to 
every  citizen  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  that  I,  and  the 
entire  colored  people  of  the  South,  aye,  the  colored  people  of 
the  United  States,  are  fully  aware  of  the  extent  of  our  indebt- 
edness to  you  for  the  happy  condition  we  occupy  to-day  in  this 
country.  The  colored  people  of  the  South,  to  an  extent  that 
would  be  very  surprising  to  you,  were  you  fully  aware  of  it, 
have  known,  for  years  and  years  past,  the  sympathy  that  you 
have  felt  for  them.  For  years  past,  they  have  known  the  efforts 
that  you  were  making  in  their  behalf,  to  break  the  fetters  with 
which  they  were  bound.  For  years  and  years  they  have  known 
how  you  have  been  laboring  and  toiling  for  them,  sympathizing 
with  them,  and  doing  everything  in  your  power  in  order  to 
secure  their  emancipation  from  degrading  and  ruinous  slavery. 
The  question  may  occur  to  the  minds  of  some.  How  did  they 
know  that,  when,  according  to  the  laAvs  of  most  of  the  slave 
States,  they  were  not  allowed  to  be  taught  to  read  the  word 
"Christ,"  not  allowed  to  be  taught  to  read  the  word  "heaven," 
even?  IIow  could  they  have  a  knowledge  of  these  things, 
when  it  was  for  the  interest  of  their  OAvners  to  keep  from  tliem 
the  knowledge  of  what  you  were  doing  in  their  behalf,  more 
than  it  was  to  keep  them  from  learning  to  read  the  name  of 
Christ  ?  I  will  enlighten  your  minds  upon  this  point.  There 
were  not  only  in  the  southern  States  the  field  or  plantation 
hands,  consisting  of  men,  women  and  children,  but  there  were 
house  servants.     These,  of  course,  came  in  contact  with  their 


34  Town  of  Cohasset. 

owners  constantly,  and  their  quick  and  ready  ears,  whenever 
they  heard  a  word  in  regard  to  slavery,  or  in  regard  to  the 
people  of  Massachusetts, — "Wendell  Phillips,  Garrison,  Sumner, 
Wilson,  and  many  others,  whom  I  could  name  had  I  time, — 
whenever  they  heard  a  woi'd  in  regard  to  what  these  men  were 
doing  against  the  institution  of  slavery,  those  quick  ears  would 
retain  the  words,  and,  prompted  by  joy,  as  soon  aa  they  got 
among  their  fellow-servants  they  would  tell  them  what  they 
had  heard,  and  then  the  news  spread  and  spread  through  the 
South,  until  the  names  of  Phillips  and  Garrison,  and  the  name 
of  Massachusetts,  became  sacred  names  with  the  slave  popula- 
tion.    (Applause.) 

Now,  I  wish  to  express  to  you,  and  they  desire  that  I  shall 
express  to  you,  their  thanks  for  what  you  have  done  in  their 
behalf;  for  the  labors  and  efforts  which,  as  they  are  well  aware, 
accomplished  so  much  towards  their  liberation. 

My  friends,  I  have  but  very  little  more  to  say  at  this  time.  I 
wish  to  say  for  your  encouragement,  as  I  know  that  you  wish 
those  well  for  whom  you  have  labored  so  long  and  so  hard, 
that  they  are  doing  surprisingly  well,  everything  considered. 
Schools  are  being  established  all  over  the  South,  and  never  did 
you  see  men  and  women,  even  grown  men  and  women,  more 
desirous  of  acquiring  knowledge  and  becoming  enlightened, 
than  are  the  colored  men  and  women  of  the  South ;  and 
when  it  comes  to  the  children  and  youth,  they  desire  to 
become  educated  and  enlightened,  and  the  opportunities  of 
becoming  so  are  being  extended,  and  they  are  drinking  in 
knowledge  as  the  thirsty  earth  drinks  in  the  summer  rain. 
I  say  this  to  you,  my  friends,  for  your  encouragement,  and  it  is 
my  belief,  that,  if  a  fair  opportunity  is  given  to  the  colored 
people  of  the  South,  they  will  do  well.  They  have  a  greal 
desire  to  acquire  property,  and  they  are  acquhing  property  very 
rapidly.  Many  of  them  desire  to  purchase  land,  and  they  have 
the  means  to  purchase  small  amounts  of  land  if  they  could  get 
it ;  but  their  former  owners  are  trying  to  hold  on  to  their  land. 
You  know  that  one  of  those  men  owns  as  much  land  as  six  men 
should  own.  That  is  the  way,  you  know,  it  has  been  there ; 
but  now  the  taxes  are  so  heavy  that,  as  they  have  no  one  to 
work  the  land  for  them,  but  are  obliged  to  hire  their  labor,  they 
will  be  compelled  to  sell  their  land,  or  a  part  of  it.     Occasion- 


Centennial  Anniversary.  35 

ally  a  very  large  plantation  or  farm  is  sold,  and  then  the  way 
the  freedmen  do  is  this :  One  or  two  cannot  buy  that  planta- 
tion, but  as  many  as  fifteen  or  twenty  put  their  money  together, 
and  thus  get  enough  to  purchase  the  farm.  Then  they  go  to 
work  on  it  together  for  a  while ;  but  there  is  this  regular  agi'ee- 
ment,  when  they  jDurchase  it  in  the  way  I  have  described,  that 
by-and-by  it  shall  be  divided  equally  among  the  twenty,  if  they 
desire  it,  and  each  one  have  his  part  separate  from  the  others. 
I  merely  mention  this  fact  to  let  you  see  how  desirous  they  are 
of  acquiring  property.  They  are  doing  well,  I  know  it  will 
encourage  you  to  hear  it,  dear  friends. 

Let  me  say,  in  conclusion,  you  are  doubtless  aware  of  this 
fact,  that  somehow  the  southern  people,  while  they  hated  all 
New  England,  hated  Massachusetts  a  little  more  than  they  did 
any  other  part  of  it.  That  was  greatly  in  your  favor ;  and  the 
more  they  hated  you,  the  better  the  slaves,  knowing  why  they 
did  it,  loved  you. 

Dear  friends,  I  thank  you  for  your  attention.  I  am  so  hoarse 
that  it  troubles  me  to  speak  or  think.  I  have  this  to  say  to  you, 
my  friends :  I  love  you,  my  race  loves  you.  The  Lord  bless  you. 
I  hope  to  meet  you  in  heaven.     (Applause.) 

The  choir  then  sang  an  anthem. 

The  exercises  concluded  with  prayer  by  Rev.  C.  B.  Smith, 
of  Cohasset : — 

Great  and  eternal  God,  our  God,  from  everlasting  to  ever- 
lasting thou  art  God.  With  Thee  there  is  no  variableness  or 
shadow  of  turning.  Thy  years  are  through  all  generations. 
"We  thank  Thee  that  we  are  performing  our  brief  part  upon  the 
stage  of  action  at  this  time ;  that  we  have  been  relieved  from 
the  perils  and  the  hardships  which  have  been  endured  by  those 
who  have  gone  before  us  ;  and  while  we  enjoy  the  legacy  con- 
ferred upon  us  by  them,  may  we  feel  that  still  greater  responsi- 
bilities devolve  upon  us,  to  leave  to  those  who  sliall  come  afler 
us  better  things  than  our  fathers  left  for  us. 

And  now,  as  we  enter  upon  the  duties  of  a  new  century,  wo 
call  upon  our  souls  and  all  within  us  to  bless  Thy  great  and  glo- 


36  Town  of  Coliasset.    ' 

rious  name,  that  we  welcome  here  to-day  the  representative  of 
a  race  long  down-trodden  and  oppressed,  but  who  to-day,  with 
unmanacled  limbs,  stand  upon  the  same  platform  of  universal 
liberty  with  us,  endued  with  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
citizenship.  And  we  pray  that  thy  blessing  may  attend  them 
in  the  acquisition  of  knoAvledge,  and  in  making  such  progress 
as  will  enable  them  to  acquit  themselves  with  honor  to  them- 
selves and  our  whole  nation. 

Great  God,  let  thy  blessing  be  upon  us;  and,  as  we  shall  have 
passed  from  the  stage  before  another  occasion  like  this  will  have 
come  to  pass,  oh  may  it  be  our  lot  to  be  acting  in  scenes  more 
glorious  and  desirable  !  When  heart  and  flesh  shall  fail  us,  be 
Thou  our  j^ortion  and  our  God,  and  in  the  world  to  come  may 
we  be  prepared  to  honor  and  praise  and  glorify  thee.  And  to 
God,  the  only  wise.  Father,  Son  and  Spirit,  shall  be  the  glory 
evermore.     Amen. 

The  procession  then  re-formed,  and  marched  to  one  of  the 
depot  buildings,  which  had  been  handsomely  decorated  for 
the  occasion  by  Lamprell  &  Marble,  of  Boston,  where  a 
dinner  had  been  provided  by  Thomas  M.  Smith,  of  Cohasset. 
The  tables  were  laid  for  six  hundred  persons,  and  nearly 
every  seat  was  occupied,  the  presence  of  ladies  adding 
greatly  to  the  interest  and  pleasure  of  the  occasion.  The 
company  having  been  seated,  the  President  of  the  Day  again 
extended  a  cordial  welcome  to  all,  and  requested  Rev.  J.  R. 
HusTED,  of  Cohasset,  to  ask  the  divine  blessing. 

PRATER   BY    REV.    MR.    HUSTED. 

Our  heavenly  Father,  source  of  all  being  and  blessing,  we 
thank  thee  for  all  the  gifts  of  thy  providence  and  grace,  and  espe- 
cially for  the  gift  of  thy  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  through  whom  all 
other  blessings  are  derived  to  us.  We  thank  Thee  for  this  day, 
for  these  pleasant  memories  and  associations,  for  the  intellectual 
entertainment  with  which  we  have  been  favored,  for  the  pleas- 
ant auspices  under  which  we  are  convened  to  celebrate  this 


Centennial  Anniversary.  37 

centenary  occasion,  and  for  the  food  now  spread  before  us  for 
the  refreshment  of  our  natures.  May  Thy  blessing  rest  upon 
us,  and  may  we  partake  of  thy  gifts  with  grateful  hearts,  recog- 
nizing the  Giver,  and  by  cherishing  the  sentiments  and  pui-poses 
of  patriots  and  Christians  show  that  the  example  of  our  fathers 
has  not  been  lost  upon  us.  Finally,  when  we,  like  them,  shall 
be  called  upon  to  pass  from  earth,  may  we  be  received  to  enjoy 
the  blessings  of  thine  upper  and  better  kingdom.  All  of  which 
we  ask  in  the  name  and  for  the  sake  of  thy  Son,  our  Saviour 
and  Redeemer. 

An  hour  was  then  happily  spent  in  disposing  of  the  sul> 
stantial  and  bountiful  repast  spread  upon  the  tables,  after 
which  the  President  introduced  Mr.  George  Beal,  Jr.,  of 
Cohasset,  as  the  Toast-Master  of  the  occasion,  who  gave  the 
first  regular  toast,  as  follows : — 

The  President  of  the  United  States. 

Hon.  Thomas  Russell,  Collector  of  Boston,  was  called 
upon  to  respond. 

SPEECH   OF    COLLECTOR   KXJSSELL. 

I  am  sure  you  have  all  heard  enough  of  my  voice  to-day,  and, 
fortunately,  there  is  no  need  for  any  one  to  respond  to  a  senti- 
ment in  honor  of  the  President  of  the  United  States.  Tliis 
rescued  land  responds  for  him.  Every  spear  of  grass  that  grows 
upon  your  hills,  every  wave  that  rolls  upon  your  shores,  takes 
to  itself  a  tongue,  and  tells  the  praises  of  the  loyalty  and  cour- 
age to  which  we  owe  the  deliverance  of  our  country.  (Ap- 
plause.) If  the  President  were  here,  I  am  sure  he  would  turn 
to  those  volunteers  who  acted  as  our  escort  to-day,  and  say  that 
all  the  wealth  and  all  the  beauty  of  this  town  and  of  this  lan.1, 
all  these  thriving  farms,  all  the  comfort  of  these  homes,  all  the 
grateful  feelings  with  which  we  keep  this  thanksgiving  to-day, 
we  owe  to  them,  and  to  those  Avho,  like  them,  braved  death  at 
the  call  of  patriotism  for  the  defence  of  liberty.     (Applause.) 


38  Town  of  Cohasset. 

And  then,  perhaps,  the  President  would  add  that  it  is  the  glory 
of  America  that  she  is  known  in  foreign  lands,  not  only  by  her 
great  cities.  New  York  and  Washington  and  Boston,  but  in 
time  of  war  they  hear  also  of  the  little  towns,  of  the  Cohassets, 
the  Hinghams,  the  Scituates,  the  Plymouths.  Our  glory  is  that 
our  strength  is  not  in  a  great  city,  like  Paris  or  London,  but  all 
over  America,  from  ocean  to  ocean,  in  these  little  patriotic  com- 
munities.    There  is  the  imperishable  life  of  the  nation,  which, 

"  Vital  in  every  part,    *    *    *    * 
Cannot  but  by  annihilation  die." 

One  word  more  of  the  President.  It  is  the  glory  of  Gen. 
Grant,  that  long  before  the  proclamation  of  emancipation,  he 
announced  that  emancipation  must  come ;  that  only  by  justice 
could  we  win  victory.  He  was  the  author  of  that  imperishable 
sentiment :  "  Human  liberty  the  only  foundation  of  human  gov- 
ernment." That  we  have  obtained.  Now  we  want  to  go  one 
step  further.  We  want  a  fifteenth  amendment  of  the  heart ;  we 
want  to  see  the  last  of  that  mean,  lingering  prejudice  which 
denounces  and  despises  any  man  because  of  his  color.  (Ap- 
plause.) The  world  does  move ;  I  thought  of  it  when  I  saw 
that  honored  senator  take  his  place  in  the  church.  Forty 
years  ago,  in  a  country  town  of  Massachusetts,  such  was  the 
prejudice  against  color,  that  the  hotel  refused  to  receive  any 
colored  man  who  happened  to  be  travelling  through  the  place. 
There  was  one  man  in  the  town  whose  doors  were  open  to  any 
one,  and  to  his  house  every  colored  man  was  sent.  That  man 
is  to-day  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 
(Applause.)  And  speaking — presuming  to  speak,  as  you  have 
called  iTpon  me  to  do — for  the  President  of  the  United  States,  I 
give  you, —  The  Fifteenth  Amendment  of  the  National  Heart: 
Equality  before  the  law,  we  have  it ;  equality  in  social  life,  we 
must  have  it. 

Music. 

Second  regular  toast : 
The  Cojimokwealth  of  Massachusetts— The  home  of  the  Puritan 

still. 


i 


Centennial  Anriiversary.  39 

Gov.   Claflin  rose  to  respond,  when  three  cheers  were 
called  for,  and  given  with  great  heartiness  and  unanimity. 


SPEECH    OF    GOV.    CLAFLIN. 

I  am  sure,  Mr.  President  and  friends,  that  yon  would  all  pre- 
fer that  the  gentleman  who  has  just  taken  his  seat  should  have 
answered  for  the  State  as  well  as  for  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  I  accept  your  cheers  as  an  indication  of  the 
sentiments  which  you  cherish  towards  the  State  of  Massachu- 
setts, the  glorious  old  Commonwealth. 

I  thank  you  most  cordially  for  the  opportunity  you  have  given 
me  to  attend  these  ceremonies  to-day,  and  to  hear  the  pleasant 
voice  of  my  friend,  who  has  delineated  your  history  so  graphi- 
cally and  clearly.  I  am  sure  that,  a  hundred  years  hence,  the 
historian  who  turns  back  to  the  oration  which  has  been  deliv- 
ered this  day  will  feel  that,  with  all  the  advances  that  may  have 
been  made  in  that  time,  they  cannot  hope  to  have  a  better 
oration  on  the  celebration  of  the  second  centenary  than  that  to 
which  we  have  listened  to-day. 

I  am  called  upon  to  say  a  word  in  behalf  of  the  Common- 
wealth. Looking  back  for  a  moment  to  the  period  to  which 
our  thoughts  naturally  turn  to-day,  looking  back  to  the  year 
1770,  what  was  our  number?  Including  the  State  of  Maine, 
we  then  had  250,000,  possibly  275,000  inhabitants.  To-day  we 
have  almost  six  times  that  number  in  our  own  Conimonwealtli, 
of  about  one-third  the  territory  then  embraced  within  the  limits 
of  the  colony.  While  the  population  has  increased  in  this 
great  ratio,  the  wealth  of  the  State  has  increased  in  much 
greater  proportion.  To  one  coming  from  a  distant  State  to 
visit  us,  the  question  might  occur,  "  What  has  brought  all  this  to 
pass  ?  How  comes  it  that  this  State,  with  its  unfavorable  soil, 
with  its  cold  and  cheerless  climate,  should  have  been  so  success- 
ful? "  Now,  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  believe  that  Massachu- 
setts is  without  great  natural  advantages.  I  believe  that  God 
has  given  us  a  very  favorable  location  on  the  earth's  surface. 
Our  immense  sea-coast,  our  fine  and  beautiful  harbors,  afford 
advantages  which,  in  the  hands  of  an  enterprising  and  energetic 
people,  enable  them  to  make  good  their  position.     True,  we 


40  Town  of  Cohasset. 

have  not  the  mines  nor  the  fertile  soils  which  abound  in  other 
States,  but  we  have  these  other  facilities ;  and,  above  all,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  he  ordered  to  these  shores  that  bold  Puri- 
tan band  who  laid  the  foundations  of  the  State  in  righteousness, 
and  left  us  a  richer  legacy  than  mines  or  soils.  They  left  to  us 
a  system  of  public  schools  and  a  love  of  industry  and  integrity, 
which  have  borne  theii*  fruits  in  enriching  our  State,  in  giving 
us  a  world-wide  fame,  and  in  giving  us  men  who  shall  make  the 
State  forever  glorious.  And  to-day,  as  we  look  back  to  the 
year  1770,  and  see  that  Massachusetts  then  took  a  high  place  in 
the  counsels  of  the  nation,  how  can  we  say  that,  with  all  the 
advancement  of  other  parts  of  the  land,  we  have  fallen  back  ? 
We  stand  to-day  with  two  members  of  the  cabinet — noble, 
trusted,  faithful,  true  men,  Avho  in  all  parts  of  the  land  are 
honored  for  their  intelligence  and  their  true  principles,  repre- 
senting the  State  of  Massachusetts.  Then,  when  we  look  at 
the  Senate,  in  what  period  of  the  history  of  Massachusetts  do 
we  find  her  better  represented  than  she  is  to-day  ?  I  like  to 
look  forward  to  the  future.  Some  people  fear  that  Massachu- 
setts is  not  to  grow  ;  that  she  is  not  to  progress  in  all  that  makes 
a  State  great  and  glorious.  But  I  have  no  fears ;  I  believe  that 
she  is  greater  to-day  in  her  power  and  in  her  opportunities  for 
improvement  than  ever  before.  The  great  improvements  of 
Massachusetts  have  been  made  principally  in  the  last  fifty  years. 
All  her  material  interests  have  been  improved  in  that  time ;  her 
school  system  has  been  brought  to  its  present  degree  of  perfec- 
tion, and  it  is  bearing  its  fruits.  Her  population  has  increased 
more  rapidly  in  the  last  ten  years  than  at  any  previous  period 
in  her  history,  and  so,  as  it  seems  to  me,  she  is  to  go  on  in  the 
future ;  and  at  the  end  of  another  hundred  years,  this  State, 
though  small  in  territory,  will  have  two  or  three  times  the  pop- 
ulation she  numbers  to-day.  Nothing  can  take  from  us  the 
advantageous  position  we  hold  upon  the  earth's  surface,  and 
nothing,  I  believe,  will  take  from  us  the  resolution  to  improve 
all  the  opportunities  we  have,  whether  material,  moral  or  intel- 
lectual. 

I  thank  you,  gentlemen,  for  the  opportunity  you  have  given 
me  to  be  with  you  and  enjoy  this  pleasant  occasion.  I  will  not 
trespass  further  upon  your  time,  for  I  see  all  around  me  men 


Centennial  Anniversary.  41 

who  are  familiar  with  your  history,  who  rejoice  with  you  more 
than  I  can  express,  who  feel  that  they  are  a  part  with  you,  and 
are  ready  to  express  their  feelings. 

Music. 

Third  regular  toast : 

Welcome,  sous  and  daughters  of  Cohasset ;  welcome  adopted  sons 
and  daughters ;  welcome  all  to  the  family  table  to-day. 

SPEECH    OF   LORING   LOTHROP. 

31)'.  Chairman, — It  has  been  said  of  language,  that  it  was 
given  us  to  conceal  our  thoughts.  It  is  indeed  true  that  speech 
does  partially  conceal  or  misrepresent  many  of  the  thoughts  we 
desire  and  strive  to  utter.  But  there  can  be  no  obscurity  as  to 
the  sentiments  of  this  hour.  Uttered  or  unexpressed,  they  are 
simple  and  eloquent.  The  girls  and  boys  of  this  fair  town,  in 
returning,  on  this  festal  day,  to  the  home  of  their  earliest  years, 
do  so  with  a  clear  conception  of  its  significance.  The  lapse  of 
time  changes  not  our  sympathies.  The  warm  pulses  of  youth, 
of  love  and  beauty,  of  confident  hope  and  innocent  joy,  are 
cherished  still.  The  heart  is  freed  from  perverting  influences. 
The  sensibilities  are  tender  and  open  to  impressions,  and  the  as- 
sociations of  the  hour  warm  and  enliven  them.  We  think  of 
matters  in  which  the  affections  are  concerned.  Precious,  in- 
deed precious,  the  remembrance  of  our  youthful  home.  Pre- 
cious the  remembrance  of  meetings  at  the  domestic  fireside, 
seasons  of  warm-hearted  fellowship.  We  cherish  these  memo- 
ries with  afiectionate  and  unfailing  regard.  And  so,  Mr.  Chair- 
man, we  are  happy  to  be  with  you  to-day,  and  'give  and  receive 
the  warm  hand  of  fellowship,  and  go  up  together  to  a  higher 
standpoint,  from  which  to  look  out  upon  the  past,  view  the 
present,  and  prepare  for  the  future.  Thus  we  mark  our  progress 
in  life. 

It  is,  however,  with  mingled  emotions  that  I  respond  to  your 
call.  Returning  to  the  scenes  of  our  brightest  and  happiest  days, 
we  feel  deeply  the  changes  of  the  past.  Even  the  face  of  nature 
wears  a  difierent  aspect.  The  hills  are  not  so  green,  the  rocks 
are  not  so  rough  and  huge,  and 
6 


42  Toivn  of  Coliasset. 

"  The  schoolboy  spot 
We  ne'er  forget,  though  there  we  are  forgot," 

appears  less  cheerful  now. 

Everything  relating  to  man  in  this  world  is  stamped  with 
change.  This  we  recognize ;  this  we  experience.  Still  we  can- 
not think  of  the  companions  of  our  youth,  who  have  left  their 
native  land,  the  land  of  their  fathers ;  who  have  forgotten  us, 
or  themselves  lie  forgotten  in  the  grave ;  of  the  house  which 
sheltered  us;  of  the  parents  who  cared  for  us,  and  the  spot 
where  we  knelt  down  to  say  our  simple  prayer ;  of  the  father 
whose  hand  was  laid  upon  the  head  of  his  boy  as  he  went  forth 
to  meet  the  duties  and  perils  and  struggles  of  life ;  and,  above 
all,  of  her  whose  smile  was  the  dearest  enjoyment  of  our  young 
life,  without  feeling  in  the  soul  a  void  which  naught  can  fill. 
All,  all,  is  changed.     A  century  is  past, 

"  And  all  its  aching  joys  are  now  no  more, 
And  all  its  dizzy  raptures.    Not  for  this 
Faint  I,  nor  mourn  nor  murmur.     Other  gifts 
Have  followed  for  such  loss ;  I  would  believe, 
Abundant  recompense." 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  loved,  when  a  boy,  to  stand  on  the  summit 
of  the  great  rock  a  little  south  of  the  house  in  which  I  was  bom, 
just  as  the  sun's  golden  rim  touched  the  horizon,  and  linger 
there  till  the  village  beneath  was  hushed,  and,  their  evening 
song  ended,  the  birds  had  gone  to  their  leafy  homes,  and  the 
harvest  moon,  pale  and  silvery,  came  forth  undimmed  by  the 
brightness  of  her  effulgent  brother.  Many  years  since  then  have 
passed  away.  The  green  leaves  have  withered  and  dropped  and 
perished ;  the  tr§es  have  bent  under  the  winter's  snows,  and 
again  have  put  forth  their  buds  and  blossoms,  and  their  thick 
foliage  has  cast  in  summer  its  broad  shadow  on  the  earth.  Suc- 
cessively have  they  been  changed  by  decay's  effacing  fingers,  to 
again  live  in  beauty  and  joy.  It  was  an  inviting  spot.  That 
rocky  hillside  is  even  now  more  grateful  to  my  view  than  almost 
any  other  place. 

"  Oh,  there  are  green  spots  on  the  path  of  time !  " 

So,  my  friends,  as  we  return  each  to  his  once  cherished  spot 
and  linger  there,  the  freshness  of  young  life  returns.     Our  past 


Centennial  Anniversary.  43 

lives  in  the  present,  and  the  scenes  of  childhood  are  not  loved 
in  vain. 

But  touching  memories  are  now  awakened. 

"  It  was  a  night  of  summer,  and  the  sea 
Slept  like  a  child  in  mute  tranquillity," 

and  from  the  heights  of  that  granite  hill  I  looked  out  upon  the 
broad  ocean,  and  watched  the  white  sail  far  distant  down  the 
bay,  and  fancied  the  joy  of  the  mariner  as  he  saw  his  native 
land  once  more. 

It  was  a  winter's  night,  and  I  watched  the  white-winged  ves- 
sels as  they  went  out  from  the  land,  and  saw  the  storm-cloud 
gather  round  some  frail  bark. 

"  In  her  was  many  a  mother's  joy, 
And  love  of  many  a  weeping  fair ; 
For  her  was  wafted  in  its  sigh 
The  lonely  heart's  unceasing  prayer ! 
And  oh !  the  thousand  hopes  untold 
Of  ardent  youth,  that  vessel  bore. 
Say,  were  they  quenched  in  waters  cold  ? 
For  she  was  never  heard  of  more. 

These  pensive  utterances  are  natural,  and  it  seems  to  me  in 
harmony  with  the  spirit  of  this  anniversary  day.  But  I  must 
end  them  now,  to  say  a  word  in  regard  to  a  matter  of  local  in- 
terest. Cohasset  is  a  fair  town,  as  well  as  a  land  of  mighty 
rocks.  Your  common  looks  fresh  and  cheerful.  The  old  church, 
which  has  witnessed  scenes  which  none  of  us  can  recall,  still 
stands.  I  have  heard  it  said  that  some  persons  desire  to  remove 
it,  and  place  it  on  the  west  side  of  the  street.  Why,  my  friends, 
the  plain  was  large  enough  forty-five  years  ago,  when  Col.  New- 
comb  Bates  commanded  the  regiment,  and  Job  Bates  and  Eliot 
Stoddard  were  the  drummers  of  the  Cohasset  company,  and  Mr. 
John  Wilcutt  was  fifer.  The  brigade  mustered  at  that  time  at 
Cohasset,  and  the  town  has  not  seen  such  a  day  since,  nor  wit- 
nessed such  exploits  as  were  then  accomplished  by  the  Ilingham 
Rifle  Company,  when,  in  sham  fight,  they  vanquished  their  foes, 
and  drove  them,  in  the  confusion  of  utter  defeat,  from  the  field 
of  battle.  You  will  never  see  a  day  like  that.  (Laughter.) 
The  town  had  room  enougrh  then.    Don't  remove  the  old  chiu-ch. 


44  Town  of  CoJiasset. 

Should  you  ever  do  it,  be  sure  and  put  up  on  the  spot  where  it 
stood  a  notice  of  the  fact  in  large  letters,  assuring  all  interested 
that  this  is  Cohasset  still. 

Indulge  me  now,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  a  few  brief  reminiscences. 
Soon  after  I  began  the  study  of  Latin,  I  was  told  that  the  goose 
was  placed  by  the  Romans  high  among  the  sacred  birds,  because 
the  cackling  of  geese  preserved  the  Roman  State  from  the  in- 
cursions of  the  Gauls,  who  were  about  to  render  themselves 
masters  of  the  capital ;  and  I  soon  learned  that  they  had  not 
failed  to  still  be  the  most  vigilant  sentinels  that  could  be  placed 
to  warn  parents  when  their  boys  or  girls  returned  a  little  late  at 
night,  and  wanted  to  get  into  the  house  and  up  to  bed  in  the 
most  quiet  way  possible.  I  remember  well  two  companies  of 
them,  belonging  to  the  neighbors,  which  used  to  station  them- 
selves on  the  hillside  just  opposite  my  father's  house.  Do  my 
best,  I  never  could  escape  their  vigilance.  The  slightest  noise 
was  sufficient  to  awaken  them,  and  then  they  sent  forth  reiter- 
ated cries,  not  unlike  the  hissing  of  a  serpent ;  and  though  I 
used  now  and  then  "  to  put  in  a  stone  by  way  of  punctuation," 
it  seemed  only  to  stir  the  whole  multitude  to  join  in  a  loud 
chorus.  Then  ensued  the  silence  and  sullenness  of  defeat.  Let 
me  ask  if  any  of  you  suffered  thus  ?  If  you  did,  I  am  glad  of 
it.  You  can  well  remember  what  measures  of  satisfaction  you 
devised  but  never  executed.  Have  you  not  despised  a  goose 
ever  since  ?     I  have,  exceedingly. 

I  should  like,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  review  the  past,  and  speak  of 
some  of  the  men  who  in  my  boyhood  seemed  to  wear  a  myste- 
rious being ;  but  I  must  content  myself  with  alluding  to  one 
only,  who  lived  in  the  south  part  of  the  town,  and  who  spent 
much  time  in  fishing  and  gunning.  Some  of  his  adventures  and 
stories  were  wonderful.  He  had  an  old  English  gun,  which  he 
said  would  carry  about  a  pint  and  a  half  of  shot.  One  day  he 
was  on  the  beach,  where  was  a  multitude  of  peeps.  He  said  the 
beach  was  literally  covered.  So  he  raised  his  gun,  and,  just  as 
he  pulled  the  trigger,  he  gave  her  a  good  shake,  so  as  to  scatter 
the  shot  well ;  but,  strange  to  tell,  he  did  not  get  a  single  peep, 
though  he  picked  up  a  bushel  and  a  half  of  legs.  I  knew  him 
well,  as  in  summer  I  passed  his  house  daily,  and  he  had  a  won- 


Centennial  Anniversary.  45 

derful  influence  upon  my  youthful  fancy.     I  would  not  haA^e  said 
anything  but  "  Yes,  sir  "  and  "  iVb,  sir  "  to  him,  for  the  world. 

Some  of  you  recollect  when  old  Father  Little  carried  the  mail 
and  two  passengers  beside  himself  in  a  square-top  chaise  to  Bos- 
ton, and  when  he  came  to  a  decent  sort  of  a  hill  he  used  to 
push  behind  and  help  his  jaded  animals  all  he  could.  One 
morning  the  town  was  surprised  at  the  appearance  of  a  stage 
coach,  drawn  by  two  horses,  one  very  large  and  one  very  small. 
It  took  some  weeks  of  observation  and  reflection  to  settle  in  my 
mind  why  he  selected  horses  so  difiering  in  size,  one  so  large  and 
one  so  small ;  and  the  conclusion  at  last  was,  that  he  did  it  on 
true  philosophical  principles — in  perfect  harmony  with  the  oper- 
ation of  the  laws  of  the  mind.  The  large  horse  was  an  indica- 
tion of  strength  and  power  and  of  high  aspirations ;  the  small 
one  of  weakness  and  humility ;  so  that,  as  he  looked  upon  them, 
Father  Little  was  sure  to  preserve  the  medium  of  thought  and 
feeling,  and  keep  on  in  the  even  tenor  of  his  way,  neither  elated 
by  success  nor  dejDressed  by  difficulties  and  doubts.  I  have  no 
doubt  his  horses  knew  just  how  many  steps  they  took  from  Co- 
hasset  to  Boston.  But  who  shall  describe  the  scene  when  a 
coach  drawn  by  four  horses  left  the  tavern,  then  kept  by  our 
fellow-citizen,  Thomas  Smith ! 

Did  time  permit,  I  should  like  to  give  myself  up  to  the  many 
and  various  associations  which  now  cluster  around  the  memory. 
This  I  should  like  to  do,  in  view  of  my  personal  union  with  my 
fellow-men,  and  in  view  of  the  union  of  man  with  man,  and  in 
illustration  of  the  sure  results  of  such  union.  I  know  you  will 
yet  indulge  me  in  one  or  two  reminiscences.  First,  of  old  Dea- 
con Kent,  who  used  to  sit  under  the  pulpit  in  yonder  venerable 
church  during  the  Sabbath  service.  He  seemed  to  me  the  old- 
est man  that  ever  lived.  He  sat  nearly  in  front,  thougli  below 
the  preacher,  exposed,  as  it  often  seemed  to  me,  to  great  peril. 
Parson  Flint  used  to  place  his  sermon  on  a  large  open  Bible, 
and  when  filled  with  the  spirit  of  his  discourse  would  courtesy 
and  gesticulate  with  energy.  I  expected  to  see  the  large  book 
fall  on  Deacon  Kent's  devoted  head.  Imagine  the  suffering  of 
a  little  fellow,  six  years  of  age,  looking,  during  the  dehvcry  of 
one  of  Parson  Flint's  sermons,  for  such  a  catastrophe  !  Deacon 
Kent  wore  a  cocked-up  hat  and  large  knee  and  shoe  buckles, 


46  Toicn  of   Cohasset. 

which  made  a  deep  impression  upon  my  youthful  imagination. 
It  seemed  to  me  that  he  was  a  being  from  another  world,  and 
that  impression  has  not  left  me  yet.  More  than  anything  else 
does  the  recollection  of  him,  unless  it  be  that  of  my  old  grand- 
mother, whom  I  see  as  a  little  old  woman,  connect  me  with  the 
men  and  things  of  other  days,  and  perhaps  of  sterner  virtues. 
I  could  speak  with  reverence  and  affection  of  Parson  Flint, 
whose  voice  I  heai*,  and  whose  venerable  form  I  see  still.  So  I 
might  notice  Deacon  Beals,  Deacon  Bourne,  Hon.  Elisha  Doane, 
the  Lincolns,  the  Towers,  and  many  others  whose  names  and  in- 
fluence live  and  still  will  live.  It  would  be  most  interesting  to 
more  fully  review  the  past,  and  mention  the  men  of  other  days, 
and  trace  their  influence  in  the  light  of  their  deeds.  Many  of 
them  were  men  of  power.  Strong  in  the  truth,  they  were  found 
setting  it  ever  before  them  as  a  vitalizing  principle.  They  were 
ready  for  their  day  and  their  day's  demand  upon  them.  Such 
men  were  Col.  Thomas  Lothrop,  and  the  early  ministers  of  the 
town,  and  many  others  within  my  own  recollection,  who  pass  by 
us  still  in  their  written  or  unwritten  history.  So,  too,  I  might 
speak  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Phipps,  David  B.  Tower  and  Dr.  Joshua 
R.  Lothrop,  and  those  of  later  times,  whose  scholarship  and 
patriotism  and  religion  will  live  in  their  power  and  influence 
down  through  the  ages  : 

"  Those  that  we  loved  so  much  and  see  no  more, 
Loved  and  still  love ;  not  dead,  but  gone  before." 

But  I  must  forbear.  A  century  is  gone.  It  has  bestowed 
upon  us  a  rich  inheritance.  I  am  happy,  therefore,  to  mingle 
my  thoughts  and  feelings  in  communion  with  my  fellow-citizens 
on  this  anniversary, — this  festive  occasion, — and  to  rejoice  with 
them  in  its  scenes  and  associations.  A  century  has  passed,  and 
has  borne  with  it  a  changeless  record.  We  cannot  call  it  back ; 
we  cannot  erase  from  the  pages  of  its  history  one  thought,  word 
or  deed.  It  is  well  thus  to  think  of  it ;  to  have  it  unfold  its 
history ;  to  have  it  come  in  the  deep  feeling  of  the  present  hour, 
and  admonish,  if  it  must,  and  cheer,  if  it  may.  And  cheer  I 
know  it  does,  for  it  brings  to  us  voices  soft  and  soothing,  full  of 
pleasant  memories,  assuring  us  that  we  have 

"  Deposited  on  the  silent  shores 
Of  Memory,  images  aud  precious  thoughts 
That  cannot  die  aud  cannot  be  effaced." 


Centennial  Anniversary.  47 

My  fi'iends,  I  will  detain  you  no  longer.  The  remarks  which 
I  have  offered,  however  loose  or  desultory  their  character,  I  hope 
will  meet  your  indulgence  as  my  small  tribute  of  respect.  I 
close  with  the  sentiment : 

That,  while  Cohasset  is  grateful  for  the  character  and  influ- 
ence of  generations  passed  away,  may  we,  her  sons  and  daugh- 
ters, active  in  the  duties  of  the  present,  ever  remember  that  we 
carry  about  with  us  the  most  noble  thing  God  has  created — an 
intelligent  spirit.  Let  it  find  in  enterprises  of  good  citizenship 
a  field  of  action,  and  we  may  be  sure  it  will  find  a  field  of  use- 
fulness. So  shall  we  cherish  the  spirit  and  emulate  the  virtues 
of  our  forefathers. 

Music — "  Home,  Sweet  Home." 

Fourth  regular  toast : 

HiNGHAM,— Commenced  business  iu  1635,— Copartnership  dissolved 
in  1770. 

RESPONSE    OF    SOLOMON   LINCOLN. 

Mr.  President, — I  perform  a  grateful  service,  in  behalf  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Hingham,  in  expressing  to  you  and  to  this  large 
company  their  thanks  for  the  cordial  manner  in  which  a  senti- 
ment referring  to  the  connection  between  Hingham  and  Co- 
hasset has  been  received. 

For  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  years,  the  inhabitants  of  both 
towns  lived  under  one  town  government.  The  early  jilanters 
of  both  bore  the  same  names  and  sprang  from  the  same  stock. 
The  Orator  of  the  Day  has,  with  great  felicity,  gleaned  from 
their  common  history  many  striking  facts  wliich  show  that  they 
lived  in  harmony  and  friendship.  When  the  Second  Precinct 
of  Hingham  was  established,  November  21,  1717,  comprising 
the  territory  of  Cohasset,  the  same  names  were  common  to  both 
parishes.  When  your  first  pastor  was  ordained,  December  13, 
1721,  there  were  gathered  around  him  those  bearing  the  names 
of  Cashing,  Lincoln,  Tower,  James,  Stodder,  Bates,  Beal  and 
Nichols,  all  of  which  are  recognized  as  among  those  of  the  old 
planters  of  Hingham.  The  pastor.  Rev.  Neheminh  Hobart, 
was   a   grandson   and   a  worthy  representative   of  Kev.  Peter 


48  Town  of  Coliasset. 

Hobart,  the  first  pastor  of  Hinghara.  One  hundred  years  ago, 
the  Second  Precinct  became  a  town.  Until  that  period  your 
history  is  our  history,  and  it  is  one  upon  which  we  can  look  back 
with  the  deepest  reverence  for  the  character  of  the  actors  in 
those  scenes.  Thence  you  became  our  neighbors,  and  always 
our  friends. 

Cohasset  is  a  fair  specimen  of  a  New  England  town.  Its 
fertile  soil,  its  beautiful  scenery,  the  industry,  enteii:)rise,  may  I 
not  add  the  intelligence  and  piiblic  spirit,  of  its  inhabitants, 
their  steady  maintenance  of  the  institutions  of  learning  and 
religion,  all  make  it  an  attractive  place. 

I  do  not  forget  what  this  town  has  done  for  the  country,  nor 
the  distinguished  men  whom  it  has  produced.  Some  of  them 
have  been  spoken  of  by  the  Orator  of  the  Day  in  terms  of  elo- 
quent eulogy.  I  will  mention  three  natives  of  this  place,  all 
educated  at  Harvard,  who  nobly  represented  the  three  professions 
of  Law,  Divinity  and  Medicine. 

Benjamin  Pratt,  of  the  class  of  1737,  rose  in  provincial 
times  to  be  the  leader  of  the  Suffolk  Bar,  and  was  afterwards 
made  Chief  Justice  of  New  York.  He  was  a  man  of  splendid 
abilities,  a  fine  poet,  an  accomplished  scholar  and  a  profound 
jurist. 

Joshua  Bates,  who  was  graduated  in  1800,  with  the  highest 
honors  of  his  class,  which  contained  Buckminster  and  Allston 
and  Chief  Justice  Shaw,  was  President  of  Middlebury  College 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  He  was  a  learned  and  eminent 
divine. 

Isaac  Lincoln,  of  the  same  class,  was  for  more  than  half  a 
century  an  ornament  of  the  medical  profession.  Residing  at 
Brunswick,  Maine,  he  was  for  sixty-three  years  an  efficient 
Overseer  of  Bowdoin  College.  His  reputation  was  extensive 
throughout  the  State.  He  was  eminently  distinguished  for 
public  spirit  and  good  works  as  a  true  man,  to  the  very  close  of 
his  patriarchal  life. 

I  cannot  omit  to  allude  to  the  brilliant  career  of  another  son 
of  Cohasset,  who  is  now  in  the  service  of  his  country.  Lea\ing 
West  Point  bearing  the  highest  honors  of  his  class,  he  entered 
at  once  upon  official  duty  as  an  officer  of  the  Engineers,  and 
through  the  Mexican  wai-,  in  all  the  battles  from  Vera  Cruz  to 


Centennial  Anniversary.  49 

the  city  of  Mexico  he  rendered  such  valuable  service  as  to  elicit 
the  warmest  commendations  of  his  superior  officers  and  of  the 
Commander-in-Chief. 

His  conspicuous  gallantry  in  various  scenes  in  the  war  of  the 
Rebellion  crowned  his  career  with  still  higher  honors,  which  we 
trust  he  may  long  live  to  enjoy. 

I  might  speak  of  other  distinguished  sons  of  Cohasset  among 
the  living  and  dead,  but  I  must  forbear. 

From  the  old  hive  of  the  First  Parish  in  Hingham,  whose 
ancient  meeting-house  was  erected  forty  years  before  your 
church  was  organized,  there  have  sprung  ten  other  religious 
societies,  all  having  places  for  public  worship,  four  of  which  are 
within  the  limits  of  Cohasset. 

Permit  me,  in  closing,  again  to  express  the  interest  which  the 
inhabitants  of  Hingham  feel  in  the  observances  of  this  day. 
They  are  here  in  large  numbers,  to  show  their  cordial  feelings  of 
friendship,  and  to  rejoice  with  you  in  the  inspiring  historic  as- 
sociations which  crowd  upon  the  memory,  and  to  tender  to  you 
their  best  wishes  for  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  all  your 
citizens. 

Fifth  regular  toast : 

The  Industry  of  our  Ancestors — The  foundation  of  their  pros- 
perity and  happiness.  May  it  ever  be  an  object  of  our  care  aud  regard 
as  a  people. 

SPEECH  of   dr.  GEO.  B,  LORING. 

Mr.  President^  Ladies  and  Gentlemen, — I  am  in  the  habit,  in 
the  discharge  of  my  duties  as  a  private  citizen  of  Massachusetts, 
of  attending  during  the  year,  a  great  number  of  public  occasions 
and  ceremonies,  and  I  assure  you  that,  in  the  long  list  of  tliem, 
I  find  none  equal  in  fascination  and  charm  and  enjoyment  to  the 
celebrations  of  the  anniversaries  of  the  settlement  of  our 
towns.  There  gathers  around  an  occasion  like  this  a  multitude 
of  thoughts  and  associations  wliich  can  be  brought  together  on 
no  other  occasion  known  to  us  in  this  Commonwealth.  It  is 
our  towns,  sir,  which  have  lain  at  tlie  foundation  of  all  our 
prosperity  as  a  people,  and  have  given  forth  from  their  lu-arth- 
stones  those  fires  that  have  kept  alive  the  great  spirit  of  the 
American  people  in  their  advancement  within  the  last  two  hun- 
7 


50  Town  of  Cohasset. 

dred  years.  Why,  here  in  Massachusetts,  long  before  the  great 
author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  conceived  of  the 
thought  that  all  men  were  created  equal,  an  intelligent  and 
well-educated  town  clerk  of  a  little  town  declared  in  open 
town  meeting,  by  resolution,  and  had  it  recorded  there,  within 
the  old  church  walls,  that  all  men  were  created  equal.  He  sent 
that  declaration  forth  from  a  town  in  Massachusetts,  to  Lnsiiire 
the  American  people  and  American  statesmen  in  that  contest. 
We  have  heaixl  from  your  distinguished  Orator  to-day  statements 
with  regard  to  the  principles  of  action  of  the  early  citizens  of 
this  town,  which  ought  to  inspire  every  American  citizen  with 
love  for  his  country,  and  with  the  determination  to  do  his  duty 
in  every  crisis  which  may  fall  upon  that  country. 

But  now,  having  passed  through  all  those  public  reminis- 
cences, and  being  brought  right  down  home  by  your  own  culti- 
vated son  to  the  enjoyment  of  your  hearthstones, — to  Dea. 
Kent,  Parson  Flint,  and  the  rest, — I  am  asked  to  deal  with  the 
industry  of  your  people — that  industry  which  gave  them  their 
wealth  and  their  power,  and  their  influence  in  this  Common- 
wealth and  throughout  the  world.  Now,  my  friends,  in  looking 
about  here  to  ascertain  what  that  industry  is,  I  find  a  somewhat 
hard  soil,  I  find  a  boisterous  ocean,  and  I  find  no  streams  capa- 
ble of  carrying  a  water-wheel ;  and  so  it  seems  to  me,  that,  as 
regards  the  three  great  interests, — commerce,  agriculture  and 
manufactures, — Cohasset,  of  all  places  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
defied  them  all  instead  of  encouraging  them ;  and  yet,  as  I  turn 
back,  after  being  reminded  by  the  Orator  that  the  sea  furnished 
its  share  of  their  wealth,  that  the  ports  of  the  world  were  con- 
tinually open  to  their  ships,  that  they  ransacked  every  sea  for 
its  treasures,  I  find  that,  after  all, — now  pardon  me,  my  friends  ; 
do  not  call  me  a  maniac, — I  find  it  was  agriculture  on  these 
hard  hills  that  did  the  business.  This  lay  at  the  foundation  of 
the  prosperity  of  the  people  of  this  town,  as  of  other  portions 
of  the  Commonwealth.  It  was  the  "  embattled  farmers  "  who, 
as  the  poet  says — 

"  Fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world." 

It  was  the  patriotic  farmers,  who  carried  on  their  operations 
here,  in  spite  of  all  obstacles,  on  a  little  ribbon  of  land,  extend- 


Centennial  Anniversary.  51 

mg  from  the  coast  of  Maine  clown  to  North  CaroHna,  mostly 
on  hard  soil, — it  was  these  farmers  who  gave  wealth  and  pros- 
perity to  the  country.  Patriots  during  the  Revolution,  honest 
men  in  peace,  they  paid,  during  the  earliest  administrations, 
more  than  130,000,000  of  the  old  war  debt,  and  paid  it  in 
money.     (Applause.) 

That  was  the  industry,  and  that  was  the  occupation,  of  your 
fathers.  And  when  the  soil  of  Cohasset  failed, — the  Western 
States  were  unknown,  the  great  valley  of  the  Mohawk  had  been 
unexplored,  the  Ohio  was  unheard  of, — it  was  the  fertile  lands 
of  Cape  Cod  that  attracted  their  attention.  (Laughter.)  It 
was  the  valley  of  the  Bass,  not  of  the  Connecticut,  the  Mohawk 
or  the  Ohio,  that  attracted  the  farmers  of  this  region.  They 
went  down  to  those  fertile  lands  that  may  be  found  in  Harwich 
and  Truro  and  Barnstable,  and  all  over  Cape  Cod.  (Laughter.) 
Tell  me  that  the  farmers  of  that  day  did  not  know  how  to 
defy  obstacles !  When  they  ihet  a  hard  soil  in  one  place,  they 
buckled  on  their  armor  and  went  forth  to  yet  harder  soil  in 
another  place,  determined  to  "  subdue  the  earth,"  in  obedience 
to  the  Divine  injunction.  It  was  agriculture,  say  what  you  will, 
that  was  the  industry  of  your  fathers.  It  was  the  tilling  of  the 
land  that  made  the  prosperity  of  the  State.  There  were  no 
mills  here.  The  boys  went  to  church  in  homespun ;  the  women 
combed  the  wool,  twisted  it  into  something  that  they  called 
yarn,  and  knit  stockings ;  the  fathers  got  the  dyestuffs  from 
the  woods,  and,  clad  in  homely  brown,  they  went  forth  to  dis- 
charge their  duties  as  good  citizens.  The  only  manufactories 
were  in  the  garrets  and  in  the  kitchens.  Agriculture  was  the 
industry  by  which  your  people  grew  rich,  and  paid  their  debts. 

But  let  me  tell  you,  that,  down  at  the  bottom  of  all  this,  there 
was  something  better  that  they  did.  They  left  behind  the  rural 
homes  which  are  not  yet  extinct.  Those  lowly  houses,  always 
facing  to  the  south,  as  if  to  catch  the  first  warm  and  genial 
breeze,  ornamented  to-day,  my  friends,  by  that  old  elm  tree, 
standing  there  as  a  type  of  New  England  institutions.  Do  not 
talk  to  me  of  the  palm  and  the  olive  as  significant.  That  old 
Yankee  elm,  that  has  cast  its  shadow  on  the  door-stone  gener- 
ation after  generation,  telUng  of  domestic  virtues  unecjualled  on 
the  face  of  the  earth,  and  telling,  moreover,  of  a  determination 


52  Town  of  Cohasset. 

to  secure  civil  rights  and  privileges,  without  which  man  walks 
the  earth  but  a  slave  at  the  bidding  of  a  despot — that  old  elm 
tree — do  not  forget  it !  And  let  the  policy  of  this  Common- 
monwealth  stiU  be  to  cherish  that  industry  which  in  earlier  days 
gave  to  your  fathers  wealth  and  prosperity,  and  brought  forth 
such  solid  virtues  to  make  Massachusetts  citizenship  honorable 
on  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  was  this  kind  of  agriculture  on  the 
land,  it  was  this  kind  of  citizenship  in  the  farmer's  home,  that 
was  made  here,  which  built  up  those  institutions  which  have 
lasted  until  this  day,  and  which,  my  friends,  thank  God,  have 
prevailed  at  last  through  this  whole  land.  The  Puritan,  the 
Old  Colony  man,  the  South  Shore  man,  is  he  who  in  this  great 
struggle  has  come  out  victorious.  It  is  the  elm  tree  of  New 
England,  the  farm-house  of  the  Old  Colony. 

Now,  my  friends,  I  think  this  is  a  substantial  basis  to  stand 
upon.  I  feel  that,  when  the  winds  blow  and  the  rain  descends, 
and  the  floods  come  and  beat  ujDon  that  house,  it  will  not  fall ; 
for  here,  at  least,  it  is  founded  upon  a  rock.  (Laughter  and  ap- 
plause.) I  think  the  industry  of  this  section  of  Massachusetts 
is,  at  least,  founded  on  rocks.  I  know,  my  friends,  that  the  prin- 
ciples of  this  end  of  Massachusetts  are  actually,  in  history  and 
reality,  foimded  upon  a  rock,  against  which  no  storms  can  ever 
prevail.  I  am  reminded  by  your  sea-coast,  by  the  ocean  that 
beats  upon  it,  and  by  that  old  beacon  light  which  was  alluded 
to  so  eloquently  this  morning  by  the  Orator  of  the  Day,  of  those 
lines  of  our  American  poet  and  satirist,  one  of  the  bright  men 
of  this  day,  who,  in  alluding  to  the  power  of  truth,  and  the  vain 
attempts  to  beat  it  down,  says  : — 

"  The  feeble  sea-birds,  blinded  by  the  storms, 
On  some  tall  light  shall  dash  their  little  forms, 
And  the  rude  granite  scatters  for  their  pains. 
Those  small  deposits  that  were  meant  for  brains ; 
But  the  proud  column,  in  the  morning  sun, 
Stands  all  unconscious  of  the  mischief  done ; 
Still  the  red  beacon  pours  its  evening  raj^s 
On  the  lost  traveller,  with  as  full  a  blaze, 
While  shines  the  radiance  o'er  the  scattered  fleet 
Of  gulls  and  boobies  brainless  at  its  feet." 

Let  those  who  attempt  to  assail  the  old-fashioned  industry  of 


Centennial  Anniversary.  53 

the  Puritans,  or  to  assail  the  principles  which  the  Puritan  has 
planted  in  this  land,  remember  the  fate  of  those  who,  assailing 
the  beacon  Hght  on  your  shore,  have  met  a  fate  which  is  worthy 
of  all  the  assailants  of  truth  and  justice  in  our  land. 

I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  listening  to  me  so  long.  I  be- 
lieve in  the  industry  of  the  Puritans ;  I  believe  in  their  princi- 
ples. I  think  they  will  last  as  long  as  tlie  world  stands.  I  con- 
gratulate you  that  you  live  in  an  age  when  your  inheritance, 
handed  down  from  them,  is  the  great  law  of  this  land,  as  it  will 
one  day  become  the  great  law  of  the  civilized  world ;  for  I  re- 
member that  the  most  eloquent  of  recent  French  writers  has 
said,  in  view  of  the  great  advancement  of  Ameiican  institutions  : 
"  C^esarism,  or  despotism,  is  passing  away ;  Republicanism  is 
taking  possession  of  the  whole  civilized  world." 

Music. — "  Should  auld  acquaintance  be  forgot?  " 

Sixth  regular  toast : 

The  Fathers  and  Mothers  of  our  Town — In  the  fulness  of  good 
old  age,  they  rest  from  their  labors  and  their  works. 

SPEECH    OF   AEAD    H.    WOOD. 

Mr.  President  and  Felloxo-  Citizens  of  both  Sexes^ — I  rise  on 
this  occasion  in  response  to  your  reverent  allusion  to  the  "  Fath- 
ers and  Mothers  of  the  town  of  Cohasset,  who  rest  from  their 
labors." 

But  here  and  now,  let  me  thank  our  friend  who  has  preceded 
me,  having  spared  me  the  emotional  tribute  so  justly  and  api»ro- 
priately  paid  to  the  earlier  inhabitants  of  this  town,  whose 
works  of  patience,  endurance  and  toil  still  remain  in  your  midst 
as  their  monuments  of  praise,  while  their  children's  children  rise 
up  and  call  them  blessed. 

I  am  drawn  here  to-day  by  the  law  of  sympathetic  attraction. 
All  I  know  of  life — its  shines  and  shades — takes  its  begiinnng 
here.  My  memory  carries  me  back  more  than  a  lull  decade  into 
the  first  half  of  the  century  you  this  day  consecrate.  And  not- 
withstanding our  life  and  all  its  labor  belongs  to  the  ever-pres- 
ent, we  are  ever  stealing  backward  among  the  loved  memories 
of  the  past,  and  ever  singing — 

"  Sweet  were  all  our  fathers'  festivals." 


54  Town  of  Cohasset. 

I  came  to  see  Cohasset ;  but,  alas !  how  little  remains  of  this 
town  and  the  people  as  they  exist  in  my  memory.  In  these 
walls  of  faces  before  me  I  see  fair  and  comely  blocks  wrought 
from  noble  quarries  ;  but  few  of  the  old  boulders  that  supported 
your  municipal  fabric  a  half  century  ago  are  visible  here  to-day 
— here  and  there  one,  it  may  be.  On  my  left  I  see  one  whose 
military  title  still  adheres  unto  him,  in  whose  company  I  have 
sometimes  marched  with  measured  tread  and  also  at  measured 
distance,  not  in  defence  of  our  country's  rights,  but  in  defiance 
of  the  incoming  tides  that  invade  your  marshes. 

I  see  in  the  distance,  passing  before  me,  the  fathers  and  moth- 
ers of  this  town,  whose  piety  and  patience,  whose  industry  and 
perseverance,  laid  the  foundation  of  your  virtues,  your  material 
prosperity  and  social  and  political  position  among  the  towns  of 
Massachusetts.  They  aspired  worthily,  and  so  they  wrought 
worthily,  and  have  bequeathed  to  their  descendants  excellences 
that  we  do  well  to  reproduce  in  our  lives  and  affections. 

The  progi'ess  of  a  half-century  has  changed  everything  but 
the  laughing  sky  and  the  sound  of  the  sea-lashed  shore.  The 
hills  are  not  half  so  high,  and  the  roads  not  half  so  long  nor  half 
so  rough,  as  when  I  was  a  boy. 

"  Sweet  home  of  my  boyhood !  once  more  I  retrace 
The  beauty  and  charms  of  my  dear  native  place ; 
The  roads  aud  the  hills,  the  fields  and  the  streams, 
Awake  to  remembrance  my  juvenile  dreams. 

"  Each  object  I  gaze  on  holds  with  it  combined 
Some  early  occurrence,  still  fresh  to  my  mind; 
Here  life's  sunniest  hours,  and  youth's  brightest  day. 
Glided  lightly  aud  blithesome  and  careless  away ! 

"  I  remember  the  place  where  the  blackberries  grew, 
Aud  ofttimes  I  feasted  myself  on  them  too ; 
In  the  clover  fields  watched  the  industrious  bee, 
Or  the  woodpecker  tapping  the  hollow  pine  tree. 

"  On  the  banks  of  the  brook  that  winds  through  the  vale, 
I  wandered  in  boyhood,  when  sprightly  and  hale  ; 
Oft  bathed  in  its  waters,  aud  fished  on  its  shore, 
Oft  catching  a — bite,  that  would  make  me  feel  sore  ! 

"  On  the  east  of  the  common,  near  yonder  hill, 
Stood  the  old  schoolhouse, — I  remember  it  still; 


Centennial  Anniversary.  55 

'Twas  there  I  received  my  first  lesson  at  school, 
And  learned  by  experience  a  pedagogue's  rule ! 

"  The  home  of  my  boyhood !  my  much-beloved  home ! 
It  clings  to  my  memory  wherever  I  roam ; 
Amid  all  the  changes  that  I  have  passed  through, 
The  scenes  of  my  boyhood  have  gladdened  my  view. 

"  Dear  home  of  my  boyhood !  though  years  have  gone  by, 
I  love  thee  and  prize  thee,  as  if  thou  wert  nigh  1 
Thy  name  hath  a  magic  to  none  other  given, — 
It  links  my  affections  to  dear  ones  in  heaven. 

"  The  home  of  my  boyhood !  my  boyhood  no  more ! 
Yet,  if  I  should  live  to  be  three  or  four  score. 
Its  name  shall  be  dear  till  life's  latest  even. 
When  may  it  be  changed  for  my  home  up  in  heaven !  " 

The  comforts  aud  luxuries  of  your  people  fill  ine  with  glad- 
ness and  surprise.  New  channels  of  trade  have  opened  up  new 
fields  of  industry,  and  where  penury  sat  barefoot  sorrowing, 
plenty  spreads  her  table,  and  her  guests  are  clothed  in  linen  aud 
purple. 

With  the  material  prosperity  of  a  people,  culture  and  refine- 
ment are  sure  attendants.  The  educational  advantages  through- 
out the  Commonwealth  have  lifted  the  men  and  women  of  to- 
day out  of  the  ruts  in  which  their  fathers  and  mothers  travelled 
during  the  early  days  of  this  settlement.  Your  zeal  in  the 
cause  of  public  instruction  is  evinced  by  the  commodious  houses 
I  see  about  town,  dedicated  to  the  fundamental  interests  of  any 
people  who  would  be  free.  Skilled  labor  and  cooperation  have 
lifted  the  burden  from  the  weary  shoulder  of  toil,  and  equalized 
the  profits  of  industry  among  the  people. 

No  longer  do  I  see  the  docile  ox  yoked  to  the  thing  called  a 
cart,  moving  with  its  plank  wheels  and  hubs  of  trii)le  jilank 
trenelled  together,  creaking  up  and  down  "Beecliwood  Lane," 
(now  Beechwood  Street).  The  wooden  axletroe  wagons  of  tin- 
receding  and  passed  generations,  in  which  the  aristocracy  of  my 
young  days  took  their  ^:)?eas?<re  rides  and  Sunday-nu'otiiig  air- 
ings, have,  with  their  proprietors,  gone  from  our  midst,  and  (ho 
places  that  knew  them  shall  know  them  no  more. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  excitement  that  prevailed  when  M.ajor 
Pratt  bought  "his  new  wagon,"  the  first  of  the  sort  ever  owned 


56  Town  of  Coliasset. 

in  town.  It  was  a  marv'el  in  itself;  and  one  old  lady  (with  a 
slight  admixture  of  envy  and  solemnity,  it  may  be,)  complained 
of  the  uns6lemn  sound  of  its  axles  as  the  major  drove  by  her 
dwelling  on  a  Sunday  morning.  There  were  many  other  curi- 
osities of  the  genus  carriage  in  town  when  I  was  sixty  years 
younger  than  I  am  to-day ;  but  I  must  mention  only  one — an 
ancient  English  manufactured  chaise.  It  was  a  stately  vehicle, 
I  assure  you,  as  high  and  square  as  a  bam.  I  will  tell  you 
where  it  used  to  stand,  and  for  aught  I  know  it  stands  there 
now ;  if  so,  you  will  find  it  in  Capt.  Peter  Lothrop's  barnyard. 

It  was  in  this  town  I  gained  the  first  rudiments  of  what  we 
call  an  education ;  and  under  the  tutelage  of  the  most  popular 
teacher  in  town,  I  learned  my  A,  B,  C's.  Since  then  I  have 
visited  many  schools  and  conversed  with  many  teachers ;  but  no 
"  schoolmarm  "  yet  ever  filled  "  Miss  Fanny's  "  place,  when  bal- 
ancing the  sands  that  determined  the  exact  point  of  time  when 
we  could  have  our  recess.  She  had  a  pious  care  for  the  souls  as 
well  as  the  heads  of  her  pupils.  Many  an  earnest  lesson  on  the- 
ology and  faith  has  been  seemingly  lost  on,  at  least,  one  of  her 
scholars.  Peace  to  her  memory  ;  hallowed  be  her  name.  She 
has  gone  to  the  shadowy  unknown,  and  so  has  her  Westmin- 
sterian  creed  through  which  she  saw  God  and  humanity  and 
duty,  as  the  sainted  fathers  and  mothers  "  of  ye  olden  times  '* 
saw  the  sun  and  stars  through  the  plumbed  diamond  panes,  that 
admitted  the  light  of  day  into  the  dwellings  of  those  who  could 
pay  the  tax  on  "  crown  glass.'* 

My  memory  is  densely  freighted  with  people  and  events  of 
thrilling  interest.  The  outgoing  and  incoming  generations  are 
full  of  significance. 

How  blessed  that  generations  are  not  made  like  houses  and 
barns,  with  upright  posts  and  partitions,  but  overlapping  each 
other  on  so  easy  a  plane,  that  the  old  slide  off  as  the  new  crop 
out  on  the  opposite  margin,  with  faces  radiant  as  sunbeams, 
while  not  a  ripple  disturbs  the  solid  stratum  that  supports  the 
body  politic,  vitalizing  society  and  breathing  into  the  children 
principles  of  right  and  duty,  life  and  liberty,  without  which  man 
cannot  be  man. 

Mr.  President,  time  is  infinite,  but  patience  is  finite.    A  brief 


Centennial  Anniversary »  57 

tribute  to  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  the  Beechwoods,  and  I 
close  my  remarks. 

I  know  pious  detractors  have  said  the  Beechwoods  was  a  be- 
nighted comer  of  the  town,  where  the  gospel !  had  not  been 
preached  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  No  matter  for  that. 
I  know  the  people  of  fifty  years  ago  were  constant  attendants  on 
the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  Jacob  Flint,  who  believed  when  he  said, 
"  The  Father  is  greater  than  I."  They  practised  the  precepts  of 
Jesus  with  marked  fidelity.  The  charities  and  kindnesses  of  the 
Pratts  and  Whitcombs,  Bates's,  Wheelwrights  and  others  are 
engraved  on  my  memory,  never  to  be  effaced  only  with  the 
demon-blight,  ingratitude. 

Mr.  President  and  Fellow-Citizens,  I  am  glad  to  meet  you 
here  to-day.  I  feel  the  touch  and  hear  the  voice  of  the  fathers 
saying  to  me  and  to  you :  Be  true  to  the  high  interests  and  needs 
of  manhood ;  be  faithful  one  to  the  other.  I  feel  the  destitution 
of  age  only  as  I  neglect  to  harvest  the  harmony  and  sympathy 
of  the  living  Present. 

I  can  think  of  no  words  more  fitting  to  close  my  response 
than  the  following  dirge  : — 

"  "When  I  remember  all 
The  friends  so  linked  together, 
I've  seen  around  me  fall 
Like  leaves  in  wintry  weather, 
I  feel  like  one  who  treads  alone 
Some  banquet  hall  deserted ; 
"Whose  lights  have  fled, 
"Whose  garlands  dead, 
And  I  alone  departed." 

Rev.  F.  A.  Reed  was  called  upon,  and  said  : — 

I  came  here,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  response  to  your  kind  invita- 
tion, to  shake  hands  with  many  of  my  old  friends,  to  eat  a  good 
dinner,  and  not  to  make  a  speech.  But  thinking  tliat  I  might 
possibly  get  into  a  corner,  I  pro])arcd  a  toast,  wliioh  T  will  read, 
with  a  few  lines  that  I  wrote  to  accompany  it : — 

The  Adopted   Sons  of  Cohasskt  who  ake  Ausent— Change  of 
place  has  not  impaired  their  affection  for  the  old  home. 
8 


58  Toion  of  Coliasset. 


One-fifth  of  the  Centeunial, 

Mine,  save  a  year  and  more, 
Comes  stealing  o'er  me  at  the  call 

To  visit  the  South  Shore. 

The  past  re-lives— its  hopes,  its  fears, 

Of  youth  and  manhood's  prime, 
TVake  me  to  laughter  and  to  tears. 

Like  a  sad  and  merry  chime. 

And  each  familiar  face,  I  ween, 

That  at  this  board  appears, 
Is  linked  vrith  something  fresh  and  green, 

In  those  eventful  years. 

Cohasset !    I  can  not  forget 

The  scenes  I  lived  among ; 
The  ocean's  grand  old  anthem  yet 

In  memory's  ear  is  sung. 

"With  change  of  place,  the  heart's  the  same, 

New  friends  are  not  the  old ; 
A  country  flat,  insipid,  tame, 

Is  not  the  sea-coast  bold. 

"  Taunton  Great  River,"  at  my  door, 

Is  not  the  boist'rous  deep 
That  used  to  fill  night  with  its  roar, 

And  drive  away  my  sleep. 

The  fact'ry  bell,  the  smoke  that  fills 

The  throat,  when  it  is  breezy. 
Does  not  invade  the  sense  where  wills 

Each  one  to  take  life  easy. 

And  yet  there  is  affinity 

'Twixt  here  and  where  I  dwell; 
There  fills  all  the  proximity 

"  An  ancient,  fish-like  smell." 

Herrings  have  come !     'Twas  told  in  meeting ! 

Our  tars  are  doing  well ; 
And  to  their  fellow-tars  send  greeting — 

"  How  fare  the  mackerel  ? " 

"We  eat  the  herrings,  bones  and  all. 

One  for  a  whole  meal  stands ; 
Our  fishers,  having  made  their  haul, 

Through  me  with  yours  shake  hands. 


Centennial  Amiiversary.  59 


We  bought  our  town  for  a  peck  of  beans- 

For  so  tradition  has  it ; 
In  olden  time,  did  no  more  means 

Avail  to  buy  Cohasset  ? 


POEM. 

BY  REV.   GEORGE  OSGOOD. 

The  child,  who  tracl^ed  Cohasset's  sand 

One  hundred  years  ago. 
May  sleep  in  some  far  distant  land, 
Or  in  the  deep,  whose  billows  grand, 

Above  him  ceaseless  flow; 
Or  rest  in  yonder  slope  of  green. 
Where  sweet  and  tender  flowers  are  seen. 

And  friends  may  come  and  go. 

The  same  wild  scenes  around  us  lie. 
That  met  of  yore  his  kindling  eye, 
Though  cultured  grounds  and  villas  fair 
Adorn  the  landscape  everywhere. 
Yes,  here,  like  him,  we  still  may  find 
The  wild  and  beautiful  combined, 

The  lovely  and  the  grand. 
Whether  through  woodland  paths  we  stray, 
Or  sit  where  ocean  surges  play 
In  broken  wreaths  of  foam  and  spray, 
Around  the  ancient  rocks  of  gray 

That  line  our  rugged  strand. 
Like  him,  fi'om  headland  bold,  we  view 
The  wide  expanse  of  waters  blue, 

Or  on  the  beaches  stroll. 
And  listen  to  the  solemn  roar, 
As  on  the  smooth  and  shining  shore 

The  billows  break  and  roll. 
When  sunset  sheds  its  sweetest  smile 
On  wave  and  shore,  on  rock  and  isle, 

On  lake  and  winding  stream, 
We  love  on  yonder  hills  to  stray. 
And  watch  the  twilight  fiide  away, 
Till  shines  from  Minot's  tower  of  gray 

The  lamp's  resplendent  beam. 
We,  on  a  summer  eve  serene. 
May  find  a  lovely  moonlight  scene 

While  sitting  on  the  clitf; 
And  think  of  those,  wlio,  years  ago, 


60  Town  of  Cohasset. 

Beheld  the  breakers  clash  and  flow 

Around  the  fisher's  skiff. 
The  child  who  climbed  from  crag  to  crag 

A  hundred  years  ago, 
Beheld  the  folds  of  England's  flag 

From  many  a  war-ship  flow. 
Then,  as  he  saw  the  royal  fleet 

Sail  by  Nantasket  shore, 
With  joy  and  pride  he  loved  to  greet 

The  ensign  that  it  bore. 

But  ah !  the  child  too  fondly  dreamed 
The  fleet  and  flag  that  friendly  seemed 

Would  always  guard  his  home ; 
Nor  feared  the  tyrant's  boasted  power 
Would,  in  some  dark  and  evil  hour, 

In  woe  and  vengeance  come. 

And  soon,  his  earnest  heart  was  stirred 
By  many  a  true  and  fearless  word 

From  those  who  led  the  age ; 
He  heard  the  statesman's  strong  appeal, 
Beheld  the  hero's  force  and  zeal. 

And  watched  the  gifted  sage. 
When  Franklin,  with  unerring  eye. 
Could  see  the  gathering  tempest  nigh. 

And  gave  his  warning  clear ; 
When  Henry,  'gainst  the  tyrant's  throne, 
Spoke  with  that  true  inspiring  tone 

That  knew  no  doubt  nor  fear ; 
When  Otis  fired  the  patriot's  zeal 
With  many  a  true  and  bold  appeal. 

And  urged  the  freeman's  right ; 
When  Lincoln  drew  his  trusty  sword. 
To  show  by  deed  as  well  as  word 

He  for  the  cause  would  fight ; 
The  boy  that  tracked  Cohasset's  sand 
Then  bravely  joined  the  noble  band 
Which  rose  to  save  his  native  land 

In  danger's  darkest  hour ; 
And  through  war's  long  and  dreadful  storm, 
His  faithful  heart  beat  true  and  warm 

For  freedom's  blessed  power. 
When  overboard  they  threw  the  tea,* 
What  patriot  had  more  pluck  than  he  ? 
When  came  the  news  from  Lexington, 

*  Major  James  Stoddard. 


Centennial  Anniversary.  61 


Who  Tvas  more  glad  to  grasp  his  gun,* 
And  show  on  famous  Bunker  Hill 
He  could  defy  the  tyrant's  Tvill  ? 
When  Lincoln  from  the  English  lord 
At  Yorktown  took  the  yielded  sword, 
And  shouts  of  joy  and  triumph  rose, 
He  gladly  hailed  the  contest's  close, 
And  saw  with  pride  his  country's  foes, 

Defeated,  pass  away ; 
And  to  his  home  of  peace  returned, 
For  which  his  heart  had  fondly  yearned 

Through  many  a  weary  day. 

Years  passed  away — and  yet  again, 
England,  the  mistress  of  the  main. 

Despised  our  nation's  power ; 
And  then  Cohasset's  sons  arose 
And  met  on  sea  and  land  her  foes, 

In  many  a  battle-hour. 
Here  some  may  yet  remember  still, 
How  oft  they  saw  from  rock  and  hill 

The  hostile  ships  pass  by ; 
While  to  the  battle's  fearful  roar. 
In  echoes  from  our  rocky  shore, 

Came  back  a  sad  reply. 

The  war  soon  closed,  and  peace  again 
Brought  hope  and  joy  to  earth  and  main. 
Then  might  the  fisher  safely  guide 
His  bark  along  the  trackless  tide  ; 
Then  might  the  earth  her  treasures  yield 
To  him  who  tilled  the  fertile  field. 
And  the  mechanic's  skilful  hand 
Enrich  and  bless  the  prosperous  land ; 
Then  steam  outstripped  the  chaugeflil  sail. 
Or  sent  her  trains  along  the  rail. 
While  lightning,  trained  by  human  skill, 
Sent  forth  the  words  that  cheer  and  thrill 

To  those  of  every  clime. 
And  through  the  dark,  unfathomed  deep. 
Through  deserts  drear  and  mountains  steep, 

Outrun  the  steps  of  time ! 
Thus  has  our  hard  and  rocky  strand 
Joyed  in  the  progress  of  the  land ; 
And  in  the  patriot's  spirit  shown 
The  nation's  weal  to  be  her  own ! 

*  Joseph  Bates. 


62  ToR'n  of  Cohasset. 

When  slavery's  minions  sought  to  tear 
From  Sumter's  walls  our  banners  fair, 

And  blast  the  nations  power, 
The  boTS  who  tracked  Cohasset's  sand 
Uprose,  a  brave  and  noble  band, 

And  met  the  fearful  hour. 
Then,  after  fights  on  land  and  main, 
After  the  loss  of  comrades  slain, 

Or  starved  in  prisons  vile ; 
After  sad  years  in  suftering  spent, 
They  saw  upon  a  land  unrent 

The  sun  of  Freedom  smile. 

The  freedman  now  may  blithely  rest, 
Or  revel*  in  the  traitors  nest, 

And  show  a  nobler  life. 
Than  those  Avho  deemed  it  high  renown 
To  crush  the  poor  and  feeble  down 

Through  years  of  bloody  strife. 

Now,  through  this  happy  land  of  ours, 
From  where  unfold  the  tropic  flowers 

To  wild  Alaska's  snows ; 
From  the  right  arm  that  guards  our  State, 
Far  westward  to  the  Golden  Gate, 

The  air  of  freedom  blows  I 

*  Hon.  Hiram  Bevels,  the  successor  of  Jefferson  DaTis,  was  present  at  the  celebration. 


Centennial  Anniversary.  63 


The  following  letters  were  received  from  invited  guests 
unable  to  be  present :  — 

[Letter  from  Hon.  C.  F.  Adams.] 
Mr.  Adams  feels  himself  much  flattered  by  the  polite  invitation  to 
the  Centennial  Celebration  at  Cohasset,  and  regrets  that  his  arrange- 
ments will  not  permit  his  acceptance  of  it.  He  begs  to  assure  the  Com- 
mittee of  his  interest  and  sympathy  in  cherishing  such  anniversaries. 

59  Mt.  Verxox  St.,  Boston,  ) 
30  April,  1870.     ) 


Boston,  May  6,  1870. 
A.  H.  Tower,  Jr.,  Secretary  of  Committee  of  Arrangements : 

My  Dear  Sir, — I  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  invitation 
to  be  present  at  the  celebration  of  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of 
the  establishment  of  the  town  of  Cohasset.  I  have  delayed  an  answer 
till  the  last  moment,  in  the  hope  that  I  might  be  able,  consistently  with 
my  oflicial  duties,  to  be  present ;  but  I  am  compelled  to  forego  the 
pleasure  which  I  had  promised  myself. 

No  town  in  Massachusetts  bears  such  a  place  in  my  affections  as  Co- 
hasset, for  it  was  the  birthplace  of  my  most  cherished  friend.  I  should 
be  glad  of  an  opportunity,  if  it  should  be  oflered  me,  to  express  my 
feelings  in  regard  to  him  who  was  endeared  to  me  by  the  closest  friend- 
ship. Dr.  Joshua  Rich  Lothrop  was  my  classmate  in  college — my  inti- 
mate and  beloved  friend.  For  many  years  we  saw  each  other  almost 
daily,  and  our  studies,  our  reading  and  our  pleasures  were  the  same. 
Both  limited  in  our  pecuniary  resources,  we  almost  shared  a  common 
purse.  As  he  grew  in  distinction  in  his  chosen  profession,  our  locali- 
ties separated,  but  not  our  aflection  or  esteem. 

I  should  like  to  speak  of  him  as  an  honor  to  his  native  town,  of  his 
modesty,  of  his  learning  in  letters,  of  his  thorough  mastery  of  his  pro- 
fession, of  his  success  in  reaching  the  highest  reputation,  of  the  depth 
of  attachment  felt  for  him  by  the  friends  Avho  surrounded  liim  in  his 
new  home,  and  of  the  grief  which  wrung  their  hearts  when  the  good 
physician  was  called  away. 

What  treasures  has  a  town  like  the  character  and  reputation  of  such 
a  man? 

Could  I  present  him  as  I  knew  him,  I  believe  his  actiuaintanccs,  who 
perhaps  knew  him  less  intimately  than  I  did,  would  feel  a  greater  pride 
both  in  their  townsman  and  their  town. 

I  am,  respectfully,  yours,  very  truly, 

Harvey  Jeweix. 


64  Town  of  Cohasset. 

Boston,  May  6,  1870. 
J.  Q.  A.  LoTHROP,  Esq.: 

Dear  Sir, — I  find  my  engagements  will  prevent  my  being  with  you 
to-morrow.  I  regret  very  much  that  I  cannot  participate  in  your  in- 
teresting celebration,  but  it  is  quite  out  of  my  power.  I  trust  you  will 
be  able  to  find  some  person  who  will  gladly  take  the  part  which  you 
had  intended  for  me.  Indeed,  all  who  may  be  assembled  will  respond 
to  any  sentiment  complimenting  President  Grant. 

I  am,  yours  truly, 

B.  W.  Harris. 


Boston,  May  5, 1870. 

My  Dear  Sir, — I  am  deeply  sensible  of  the  honor  conferred  by  your 
invitation  to  attend  the  Cohasset  Centennial  Anniversary.  Most  gladly 
would  I  be  associated  with  you  on  this  occasion,  but  the  afflictive  dis- 
pensations of  Providence  in  my  family  of  late  render  it  improper  for 
me  to  join  in  public  demonstrations  of  joy. 

This  anniversary  will  be  full  of  pleasure  to  every  one  who  feels  an 
interest  in  our  glorious  old  Commonwealth,  bringing  the  mind  to  reflect 
upon  the  traditions  and  reminiscences  which  have  made  your  noble  Co- 
hasset the  home  and  birthplace  of  many  who  have  contributed  largely 
not  only  to  the  advancement  of  the  commerce  and  honor  of  Massachu- 
setts, but  the  whole  country.  Tour  section  of  the  State  has  furnished 
many  precious  jewels  that  have  adorned  the  coronet  of  our  Common- 
wealth— many  who  are  now  living,  and  I  have  no  doubt  will  be  present 
at  your  celebration,  and  by  recounting  the  fame  and  influence  of  your 
good  old  town  and  vicinity,  place  on  record  an  example  which  may  be 
transmitted  to  future  generations  for  great  benefit.  Although  I  cannot 
be  with  you,  I  trust  you  will  believe  that,  in  these  days  of  spirits,  al- 
though the  body  may  be  absent,  the  spirit  of  your  humble  servant  will 
rejoice  in  the  occasion. 

With  personal  regards  to  yourself  and  your  committee, 
I  am,  most  sincerely  yours,  &c., 

Marshall  P.  Wilder. 
J.  Q.  A.  LoTHROP,  Chairman  Com.,  &c.,  &c.,  &c. 


QuENCY,  April  30, 1870. 
Hon.  J.  Q.  A.  LoTHROP  : 

Dear  Sm, — I  have  delayed  an  answer  to  the  kind  invitation  of  the 
Committee  to  attend  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  incorporation  of 
your  town,  in  the  hope  that  I  might  so  arrange  my  business  engage- 
ments as  to  enable  me  to  attend ;  but  I  find  myself  reluctantly  con- 
strained to  deny  myself  the  gratification. 

Kespectfully  yours, 

J.  Q.  Adams. 


Centennial  Anniversary,  65 

30  Court  Street,  Bostox,  ) 
May  4,  1870.     5 

Dear  Sir  : — I  beg  to  thank  you  for  jour  invitation  to  the  Centennial 
Celebration,  but  my  engagements  here  are  imperative,  and  will  prevent 
my  having  the  pleasure  of  attending. 

I  am,  very  respectfully  yours, 

Charles  Allen. 
J.  Q.  A.  LOTHROP,  Esq. 


commonwealth  op  massachusetts. 

Auditor's  Department,  ) 
Boston,  May  6, 1870.     ) 
J.  Q.  A.  LOTHROP,  Esq.  : 

My  Dear  Sir, — I  regret  to  say  that  I  shall  be  unable  to  be  with  you 
to-morrow,  in  consequence  of  sickness  in  my  family. 
Many  thanks  for  your  kind  remembrance  of  me. 

Truly, 

Chas.  Endicott. 


cojevionwe.vlth  of  massachusetts. 

Senate  Chamber,  Boston,  ) 
May  6,  1870.     ] 

Mt  Dear  Sir  : — Until  this  afternoon  I  had  supposed  I  should  be  per- 
mitted to  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  participatiug  with  the  citizens  of  Co- 
hasset  in  their  Centennial  Celebi-ation  to-morrow,  but  I  tiud  that  im- 
portant duties  at  the  State  House  will  prevent. 

Thanking  you  for  the  honor,  and  trusting  that  the  occasion  may  be 
one  of  unalloyed  enjoyment  and  pleasure,  and  deeply  regretting  the  cir- 
cumstances which  prevent  my  being  present, 

I  remain,  very  truly  yours, 

F.  A.  IIouart. 
J.  Q.  A.  LoTHEOP,  Esq.,  Chairman,  tCx. 


Cohasset,  May  30,  1870. 
De.vkSir:— By  request  I  send  you  the  following:  The  "  whipping- 
post and  the  stocks  stood  on  Maiu  Street,  nearly  opposite  tbe  entrance 
of  Winter  Street,"  where  persons  convicted  of  crime  under  his  majesty's 
laws  received  a  certain  number  of  lashes  at  the  whipping-post,  and 
then  were  fastened  into  the  stocks,  to  remain  there  a  certain  length  of 
time,  according  to  the  degree  and  aggravation  of  the  crime. 

Respectfully  yours,  &c.,  &c., 

•  Marshall  Pratt. 


66  Town  of  Cohasset. 

New  York,  April  2, 1870. 
Deak  Sir  : — Permit  me,  in  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  your  letter 
of  March  31st,  to  thank  the  Committee  for  their  courtesy  in  inviting 
me  to  act  as  chief  marshal  of  ceremonies  at  the  Centennial  Celebration 
to  take  place  in  Cohasset  May  7th.  The  occasion  will  be  one  of  much 
interest  to  its  people,  and  especially  so  to  those  whose  ancestors  have 
been  associated  with  its  settlement,  its  incorporation  and  its  growth. 
It  would  give  me  much  pleasure  to  witness  the  ceremonies  of  the  cele- 
bration, but  there  is  no  certainty  that  I  shall  be  able  to  do  so ;  and  I 
must,  therefore,  beg  you  to  present  my  thanks  to  the  Committee  of  Ar- 
rangements for  their  complimentary  invitation,  with  my  regrets  that  I 
shall  not  be  able  to  comply  Avith  their  wishes. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

Z.  B.  Tower. 
A.  H.  Tower,  Jr.,  Sec.  Com.  of  Arrang'ts,  Cohasset,  Mass. 


Boston,  May  6, 1870. 
A.  H.  TO's\TER,  Jr.,  Esq.,  Secretary : 

Dear  Sir, — Your  very  kind  invitation  for  to-morrow's  celebratioE; 
was  duly  received.  A  previous  engagement  for  that  day  will  unavoid- 
ably prevent  my  being  with  you  on  that  occasion.  I  had  hoped,  until 
this  moment,  to  have  postponed  my  other  engagement,  but  'tis  impos- 
sible. 

Thanking  you  for  your  invitation,  and  regretting,  much  more  than 
you  can,  my  inability  to  accept  it,  I  am. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

Chas.  Adams,  Jr. 


Boston,  May  6,  1870. 
Mr.  Tower  : 

Dear  Sir, — I  sincerely  I'egret  that  I  am  obliged  to  decline  the  honor 
of  your  invitation  for  to-morrow,  but  I  find  myself  so  placed  that  I 
cannot  come. 

Kespectfully  yours, 

H.  L.  Ca'rgill. 


Centennial  Anniversary. 


07 


Ifuster-HoU  of  Capt.  Joh  Cushing's  Company^  in  the  3G?/i 
Hegiment  of  Foot  Infantry^  Continental  Army,  encamped  in 
Fort  No.  %  October  5,  1775. 


Enga 

ged. 

Job  Cnshiug,  Capt., . 

.  '  May 

16 

John  Kilbj%  Jr., 

Natli.  Nichols,  1st  Lieut. 

If 

> 

16 

Galen  Lincoln, 

Josiah  Oakes,  2cl  Lieut., 

(( 

16 

Jerome  Lincoln, 

Eleazer  James,  Sergt., 

(( 

18 

Charles  Luueand, 

Gideon  Howard,  Sergt., 

.    June 

1 

Joseph  Neal,     . 

Isaac  Burr,  Sergt.,  . 

May 

16 

Caleb  Nichols, . 

Peter  Nichols,  Sergt., 

Cf 

16 

Daniel  Nichols, 

Abraham  Tower,  Corp., 

« 

22 

Ebenezer  Orcutt, 

Adua  Bates,  Corp.,  . 

(( 

22 

Ephi'aim  Orcutt, 

James  Bates,  Corp., 

(.1 

22 

Luke  Orcutt,    . 

Bela  Nichols,  Corp.,  • 

u 

22 

Haugh  Oakes,  . 

Levi  Tower,  Drummer, 

(( 

18 

Joshua  Oakes,  . 

William  Stoddard,-  Fifer 

« 

17 

Samuel  Oakes, . 

Elisha  Bates,    . 

f( 

22 

Caleb  Pratt,      . 

Jonathan  Bates, 

« 

22 

Oliver  Prichard, 

Josiah  Bates,    . 

1( 

23 

Eichard  Prichard, 

Zealous  Bates, 

(( 

16 

Elisha  Stephenson, 

Ephraim  Battles, 

(f 

16 

Luke  Stephenson, 

Jared  Battles,  . 

(C 

16 

John  Sutton,    . 

Joshua  Beal,     . 

June 

1 

Joseph  Souther, 

Sam'l  Beal, 

.     May 

23 

James  Stoddard, 

Amos  Brown,  . 

11 

16 

Benj.  Stutson, . 

Calvin  Cushing, 

(1 

22 

Ecuben  Thorn, 

Obed  Dunbar,  . 

It 

23 

Jesse  Tower,   . 

George  Humphrey, 

It 

16 

Isaac  Tower,    . 

Benj.  Jacobs,    . 

If 

16 

Jesse  Worricli, 

Jared  Joj', 

It 

16 

Jolm  "Whitcom, 

Melzer  Joy, 

If 

20 

Gershom  Wheelwri 

John  Kilby, 

ff 

16 

Benj.  Woodward, 

Eichard  Kilby, . 

tf 

16 

ight, 


Engaged. 

Maj 

16 

" 

16 

It 

16 

" 

17 

If 

25 

tf 

16 

June 

1 

I\Iay 

17 

ft 

16 

It 

27 

ft 

16 

ft 

16 

ft 

16 

ft 

IS 

ft 

18 

" 

16 

June 

1 

May 

16 

" 

25 

ft 

24 

tf 

17 

ft 

23 

" 

16 

ft 

21 

ft 

16 

" 

23 

" 

23 

ft 

16 

tf 

IG 

68 


Toimi  of  Coliasset. 


List  of  Yolu7iteers  who  have  entered  the  United  States  Service 
since  May^  1861. 


Arnold,  Daniel  P.,  SSth  Eegimeut. 
Arnold,  George,  38tli  Regiment. 
Arnold, Edward  H.,  38th  Eegiment. 
Ainslie,  Peter,  U.  S.  N.      ' 
Ainslie,  Henry,  U.  S.  N. 
Beal,  Samuel,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 
Beal,  James  S.,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 
Bates,  James  L.,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 
Bates,  Lincoln,  U.  S.  N. 
Bates,  Joseph  J.,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 
Bates,  Bela,  38th  Eegiment. 
Barnes,  Albert  F.,  24:th  Eegiment. 
Bourne,  Ezekiel  P.,  12th  Regiment. 
Bates,  Cyrus,  45th  Regiment. 
Bourne,  Elias  W.,  45th  Eegiment. 
Bates,  Caleb  L.,  45th  Eegiment. 
Bates,  John  F.,  4th  Cav,  Eegt. 
Beal,  Eobert  Y.,  U.  S.  N. 
Barnes,  John,  3d  Co.  H.  Artillery. 
Barnes,  John  O.,  4th  Cav.  Eegt. 
Crane,  Franklin  J.,  7th  Eegiment. 
Carl,  William  E.,  41st  Eegiment. 
Couilard,  David  J.,  3d  Co.  H.  Art. 
Clark,  John,  3d  Co.  H.  Artillery. 
Conner,  Moses,  29th  Eegiment. 
Curtis,  Alonzo,  U.  S.  N. 
Doane,  J.  Foster,  1st  Eegiment. 
Dunster  Samuel  K.,  24th  Eegiment. 
Davis,  Joseph  E.,  11th  Mass.  Bat. 
Davis,  Charles  F.,  3d  Co.  H.  Art. 
Dinsmore,  John  H.,  Engiu'r  U.S.N. 
Fish,  Joseph  W.,  38th  Eegiment. 
Taller,  Warren,  32d  Eegiment. 
Fish,  George  A.,  2d  Co.  H.  Art. 
Groce,  Leander  W.,  Co.  H.  Art. 
Gibbs,  Thomas  O.  S.,  44th  Eegt. 
Gross,  Charles  A.,  45th  Eegiment. 
Henry,  Harrison,  24th  Eegiment. 
Hayden,  Thomas  O.,  38th  Eegt. 
Hayden,  John  G.,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 


Hardwick,  Henry  C,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 
Haskell,  Alfred,  3d  Co.  H.  Art. 
Harris,  Wm.  F.,  Jr.,  3d  Co.  H.  Art. 
Hayden,  Solomon  J.,  Co.  D,  H.  Art. 
Kane,  Thomas,  3d  Co.  H.  Artillery. 
Linsey,  Alexander,  U.  S.  N. 
Litchfield,  George  A.,  32d  Eegt. 
Lincoln,  Stephen  P.,  U.  S.  N. 
Lincoln,  Daniel  B.,  U.  S.  N. 
Leithead,  George  F.,  19th  Eegt, 
Lincoln,  Stephen,  45th  Eegimeut. 
Lincoln,  Richard  H.,  45th  Eegt. 
Lincoln,  Alfred  W.,  U.  S.  N. 
Litchfield,  Joseph  W.,  U.  S.  N. 
Morey,  George  T.,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 
Morey,  Oliver  L.,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 
Manuel,  John  L.,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 
Minot,  Leonard  W.,  18th  Eegt. 
Morse,  William  H.,  2d  Co.  H.  Art. 
Minot,  Levi  L.,  3d  Co.  H.  Art. 
Murphy,  Thomas,  Co.  D,  H.  Art. 
Manise,  Joseph,  Co.  D,  H.  Art. 
Nott,  Dawes,  12th  Eegiment. 
Newcomb,  Warren,  Co.  D,  H.  Art. 
Orcutt,  John,  20th  Eegimeut. 
Oakes,  B.  Franklin,  24th  Regt, 
Phinney,  Isaac,  35 th  Eegiment. 
Pratt,  Charles  A.,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 
Pratt,  Charles  H.,  U.  S.  Sappers 

and  Miners. 
Pratt,  Nichols,  U.  S.  N. 
Poole,  Amos  L.,  26th  Eegiment. 
Pelby,  Foi-rester  A.,  1st  Eegiment. 
Prouty,  George  H.,  32d  Eegiment. 
Palmer,  Alonzo  L.,  2d  Co.  H.  Art. 
Pratt,  William  XL,  45th  Eegimeut. 
Pratt,  Gustavus,Asst.  Surgeon  19tb 

Eegiment. 
Powers,  Henry,  U.  S.  N. 
Eipley,  Martin  T.,  32d  Eegiment. 


Centennial  Anniversary. 


69 


Elchards,  John  J.,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 
Randall,  "William,  4it]a  Regimeut. 
Eemiugtou,  Wm.  H.,  3d  Co.  H.  Art. 
Rooney,  James,  Jr.,  4tli  Cav.  Regt. 
Simpson,  Oliver  E.,  1st  Regiment. 
Stoddard,  Zenas,  Jr.,  U.  S.  Sappers 

and  Miners. 
Smith,  William  L.,  2d  Regt.  D.  C. 

Guards. 
Shaw,  Robert  B.,  32d  Regiment. 
Spoouer,  George,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 
Spear,  Thomas  F.,  U.  S.  N 
Sweeney,  James  M.,  45th  Regt. 
Sewall,  George  TV.,  47th  Regt. 
Shays,  James,  30th  Regiment. 
Studley,  Andrew  J.,  6th  Regiment. 
Treat,  John  A.,  14th  Regiment. 
Treat,  Sylvauus  F.,  14th  Regiment. 
Tilden,  Caleb  F.  B.,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 
Tower,  John  W.,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 
Tower,  Francis  H.,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 
Towle,  Joseph  M.,  32d  Regiment. 


Thayer,  William  F.,  1st  Regiment. 

Tower,  Geo.  B.  N.,  Eng.  U.  S.  N. 

Thayer,  Anselm,  32d  Regiment. 
►  Tower,  Thomas,  2d  Co.  H.  Art. 

Tower,  Levi  C,  2d  Co.  H.  Art. 

TUden,  Eustice  W.,  2d  Co.  H.  Art. 

Tower,  Isaac,  2d  Co.  H.  Artillery. 

Thayer,  Willie  F.,  4th  Cav.  Regt. 

Willistou,  Thomas,  38th  Regiment. 

Whittington,  Hiram,  U.  S.  N. 

Wells,  Charles  F.,  1st  Regiment. 

Williams,  Andrew  W.,  U.  S.  Sap- 
pers and  Miners. 

Willcutt,  Elbridge,  U.  S.  Sappers 
and  Miners. 

Whittier,  Charles.  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 

Whittier,  William,  1st  Co.  H.  Art. 

Whittier,  Leavet,  39th  Regiment. 

Willcutt,  Lyman  D.,  45th  Regt. 

West,  Charles  H.,  29th  Regiment. 

Wheelright,  Lewis  L.,  Co.  D,  H. 
Artillery. 


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